Teen Titans: One of Four Elements
by NeoNazo356
Summary: Five teenagers, never meant to meet, are inevitably brought together when a wayward girl from another world crashes down in Jump. After fending off an alien invasion, not fighting as six heroes, but as one team, an ex-sidekick, an extraterrestrial, a changeling, a cyborg, a mage, and a vagabond inexplicably find what they didn't know they were even looking for: Family.
1. Go!

It was evening, and a lone figure bound across the wastes, vegetation on the horizon as he leapt up the mountains in long strides. When he reached the summit, he saw a large U-shaped metropolis, the two furthest ends connected by a large red bridge, the mouth of the bay feeding out into the ocean to the east and the sun slowly setting in the distance. In the center of the bay was a single island, mostly green with pockets of grey on it, and if it had been worth it to go out there, would've made for a nice piece of real estate. Expensive, but quite nice.

Sitting down on a flat rock and reaching into his sling bag, he pulled out a granola bar before digging into it, stuffing the wrapper into his pocket for later disposal after stuffing his face. Rubbing his stomach with a satisfied sigh, he looked out to see that the sun had just set over the horizon, the sky slowly turning dark blue as the town gave way to evening, the lights coming on from the center to the outer edges and turning night into day.

"It's been a while since I've been into a town. Maybe I should head in, grab a few snacks," he said as he hopped off the rock and made his way down towards the city, a trail of dust in his wake before he moved into the forests surrounding the city he came upon, his movements kicking up a plethora of fallen leaves as he looked up in the sky to see a green comet moving through the air.

"Oh look, a shooting star," the figure said in awe, suddenly stopping to observ the green streak through the heavens. "Hm. Maybe I should make a wish," he said clasping his hands together and closing his eyes, only to open them when his hair was suddenly blown back, a luminous green explosion being the sight that greeted him when he opened his eyes.

"Hm... So maybe that _wasn't _a shooting star," he then said rubbing his chin, the green mushroom cloud settling in the middle of the city, which he was now at the edge of. "Ah well, guess I'd better go check it out," he said in a carefree tone as he ran into the city, running down the sidewalks and making his way to the center of the city as everyone and everything seemed to stop upon hearing the impact to their usually tranquil city. Kinda weird how they all stopped to look at the same thing, huh?

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the center of the city, otherwise known as Jump City, a green haze rose from the raised crater situated in one of the city's plazas, right in front of a pizza joint where the layout was like a slice of pepperoni pizza. Neon green eyes opening, their glow piercing through the haze, an alien figure with orange skin and long auburn red hair slid out of the crater and to the ground.<p>

Over her forehead and around her face she wore a vaguely M-shaped face guard that stopped around her jaws, and around her neck she wore a silver pauldron with a black broach-like object above her chest. She wore silver shoulder pads, and her arms, stomach, and thighs were covered in purplish segmented body armor. She wore a black form fitting tank top that stopped above where her midriff would be, a black skirt with a silver belt, and thigh-length boots with silver trim around her thighs and likewise soles. In addition to all this, she seemed to have a bulky white and black-trimmed device locked onto her forearms leaving her elbows free, the two matching cylinders held in place by a bolt between the two sides, and at the front were connected by a U-shaped hinge of dark grey metal with a red-armored bolt.

"Slopforn ivortmat!" she growled as she slid down the stone slabs. "Slopforn! Ond gudshik zerrole!" she growled in some alien language, holding her forearms at them while the people gathered backed away, assuming the device on her arms was some sort of alien weapon, rather than a restraint. Shaken out of his stupor, a pedestrian took a picture with his camera, the flash causing the red-haired alien girl to recoil slightly before her eyes narrowed, a frenzied battle cry escaping he lips as she went on a rampage, swinging her arms around and freaking people out in general as she smashed everything in her path.

That being, _this _was the scene the brunette arrived at after running for several minutes, moving around and over everything in his path like the wind. Right around the time the red-head sent a taxi flying through the air via the end of her cuffed fists. Oh, as well as a couple payphones, a mailbox, smashed a bench with a double axe handle, and sent a couple lamp posts into next week. In summary, it only took her two minutes to turn the area surrounding her crater into a complete and total warzone.

"Man, two minutes and this girl turns the area around her crater into a complete and total warzone," the brunette said to himself around the corner from the pizza joint, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Ah well. She's probably just mad from the trip or something. I know _I'd _be if I woke up in a crater," he said with a smile as he put a positive spin on things.

That thought finished, the teen watched as the green-eyed girl seemed to struggle with her restraints, only to slump forward in defeat. A second later however she perked up, turning towards the support beam that held the nearby pizza joint's balcony aloft. With a mighty leap, the girl rushed at the pillar and smashed her cuffs against the side of it, plaster sent flying and people knocked out of their seats.

"X'hal! Yark! Mesnef!" she cursed as she swung her restraints into the support column with each curse, warping it with each swing until the pizza slice-shaped balcony broke off entirely, a few civilians left hanging off the edges for standing too close.

"Hm. Guess I should help those people," the teen said as he leapt up the twelve feet to the edge of the balcony in a single leap before vaulting over it, grabbing the nearest pedestrian and pulling him back onto the platform. After doing so with the others, who then leapt to the main building in a panic, he looked over the edge of the balcony and saw that the orange-skinned alien girl was about to take a _fourth_ swing at the pillar, only for the resounding _**-clang- **_of ringing metal to meet his ears as a dual-tone grey bird-like projectile struck the girl in her right temple. Looking up, the brown-haired teen spotted who had most likely thrown it, currently standing atop a car.

"Who are you?" the spiky-haired teen demanded, his hair most likely swept back by hair gel. He wore tight green pants held up by a yellow segmented belt with numerous compartments and a circular black-trimmed buckle, black boots with metal tips, a red vest with green sleeves and a yellow R over a black circle, a black cape with yellow lining around his neck and shoulders, and had green gloves that stopped just short of his elbows. He wore a black and white domino mask, and was most identifiable by his hero persona, Robin, sidekick of Gotham City's 'Dark Knight', Batman.

Of course, the spiky-haired teen's question remained unanswered as the alien girl immediately recognized him as a threat, spinning through the air before bringing her restraints down onto the ground, creating a massive fissure which the brown-haired teen felt from his balcony, which, of course, he got down from as soon as he got the chance, landing in a crouch as he watched the fight escalate.

The girl took several swings at Robin, who deftly dodged each swing. Throwing an exploding disk at her after leaping over his shoulder, the two failed to notice the presence of a grey-skinned figure in a dark blue cloak, stopping short of her ankles.

"Man, that girl must _really _be riled up about something," the brown-haired teen said watching the fight, the alien girl effortlessly tossing a car into the air with her right foot before kicking it with a spin, the spiky-haired sidekick ducking to the ground as the automobile spun end over end, flying several thousand feet before it found home in the side of a building. "Why did that car just explode?" he wondered, seeing that it was somehow still intact.

"Hm. Stronger than she looks," Robin spoke seeing how far the thing flew, turning around only for the alien girl to deck him across the face with a wild double haymaker, sending him rolling across the ground before coming to a stop, just narrowly dodging another double axe handle into the ground which most likely would've powdered every bone in his body.

Quickly whipping out a grey pipe from his pipe, it then extended into a full bo staff, which he brought into the side of the girl's head and sent her flying into the air, her body making a dent on the car in her path. The teen whipped out his bo staff again, only for it to crumble into pieces as though it were made of glass.

_Maybe it was made of something _weak_. Like Raditz, _the brown-haired teen thought to himself as he watched.

Wrenching herself free from the vehicle, the orange skinned girl simply cracker her neck to the right with an audible _**-crrrrack- **_with a smirk on her face. "Zota," she said having hardly felt the hit at all and rushing at the with another overhead swing, only for the brown-haired teen's eyebrow to raise as a green mountain goat suddenly came out of nowhere and blindsided her. What really caught him off guard was that the goat then transformed into a little green-skinned teen.

"Ex-Doom Patrol member Beast Boy, Sir! How can I help-" he asked with a salute before growing wide eyed. "Wowzers. You're Robin aren't you sir?" he asked. His attire consisted of a purple jumpsuit with black sides encompassing his shoulders and arms, his jumpsuit's "pants" styled into purple shorts with the rest of his legs black, with a grey belt with a circular buckle, gloves, around his waist and on his hands. His shoes were segmented purple sneakers with black trim and grey soles. On his mask he wore a grey mask with a purple top, leaving only his green face exposed beneath his eyes, which had dark rings around them like a raccoon's, and overly-large pointed ears like an elf's. Given all the weird stuff out there, it wouldn't be much of a stretch.

"Well you can _start _by not calling me sir," Robin rebuttled, the brown-haired teen leaning against a wall just out of sight and thinking this guy took things _way _too seriously.

"Well let me just say that it's a real honor to be-" he said with stars in his eyes as he held his salute.

"Uh, Beast Boy, was it?" he said getting the teen's attention.

"Yes sir?" he asked, Robin pointing him in the general direction of the girl he'd blindsighted. The green-skinned boy's eyes widened as the alien red-head suddenly lifted an entire city bus above her head, sending it flying at the two with a mighty heave. As the two dodged, a large figure jumped into the way of the bus and surprisingly caught it, his feet digging trenches across the ground before he set the vehicle down.

"Yo! Who's here messin' up my neighborhood?" the African-American teen shouted loudly. He was extremely tall and _extremely _muscular under a pair of black seat pants, a black track suit that showed off his massive build, black boots, and dark grey gloves on his hands. His hood was up and the shadow cast by his cowl hid the majority of his upper face, his left eye glowing red surprisingly.

"She started it," the green-skinned kid said pointing to the alien girl as she walked towards them.

"Hraaa-AH!" she shouted as she brought her restraints down onto the street, causing a massive quake to send every car bouncing off the ground and debris to be knocked around by the sudden impact. Standing to full height, the alien girl's restraints fell away, or to be more specific, the outer layer, revealing a second set of restrains in light grey with black trim, a bolt down the sides, but this time revealing her hands, which had violet armor on the backs.

Raising her hands and clenching her fists, the girl's hands began to glow the same color as her eyes as she aimed them at the three teens, a long, dual-volley of energy bolts being launched off the ends of her fists towards the three, a large dust cloud rising before the three ran at her before splitting off to hit her front and side flanks. Swinging her arms around, she took aim at each of the three before they circled around, hiding behind a bus as the majority of her shots peppered the city for blocks, mini-explosions going off and causing untold collateral damage. The attack completed, the girl's hands began to give off steam as she slumped forward slightly, the effort having taken a lot out of her.

"Hi there!" a voice suddenly said from behind her, its owner tapping her shoulder and causing her to whirl around, wondering just how he managed to get behind her without her noticing. He had messy shoulder-length brown hair, with no apparent style in mind other than that it covered his ears, and had a slightly blown-back look with a few bangs covering his face. His build was athletic, yet plain, and he had a bit of a tan as though he frequented the outdoors. Around his neck he wore a sky blue scarf with white flame-like patterns on the ends, which were both tipped with a half-dozen white tassels each, appearing slightly worn but lovingly cared for. Over a light grey T-shirt he wore a dark blue and black-trimmed sleeveless hoodie with white wing-like patterns on the back that started at his collar right by the zipper and extended down his shoulder blades, a black and yellow-trimmed sling bag tightened securely to his frame over his left shoulder and around his right hip. He wore a plain black leather belt around a pair of khaki-colored baggy pants, and on his feet were a pair of blue open-toed blue sandals fastened securely to them. At the moment he was wearing a pair of brown leather aviator's goggles with clear lensing on his forehead, which accompanied with the scarf made him look a bit like an aviator.

"Hi. My name's Ventus, but you can call me Vent. What's yours?" he asked with a goofy grin as he extended his hand to the alien girl, only for her to clench her fists before launching another volley of neon green bolts at the teen. Meanwhile on the other side of the bus, to the three teen's surprise, the teen suddenly backpedaled rapidly before strafing around her shots, the speed he displayed far exceeding what a normal Earthling was supposed to have, his feet barely touching the ground at all as he whirled, spun, twirled, bound, and leapt over and around the neon green bolts as they peppered the street and buildings in his general direction, not a single one hitting him despite how he was only twenty feet away from her.

"Uh, friend of yours?" Beast Boy asked the guy standing over him as he watched the seemingly normal teen do something seemingly without effort that it took him and the others everything they had to match.

"No, but the kid clearly has no idea what he's getting into," Robin answered as he brought his right fist into his left hand. "Come on! Let's get him out of there. We need to stop this girl from wrecking the city, and I'm not going to lose this fight either," he said as he ran around the side of the bus, only for a massive raven-shaped silhouette of dark energy to suddenly rise out of the ground in front of them, screeching into the air and halting their advance before a new figure materialized from behind them, seemingly out of the shadows themselves.

"Maybe, fighting isn't the answer," a quiet, purple-eyed grey-skinned girl said as she walked towards them. Over her body she wore a dark dark blue cloak that went down to her ankles, a black and gold broach on the left, the cowl of her hood hiding the upper portion of her face, the only other visible part of her being her blue-clad feet. A moment later she motioned past the silhouette as it dissolved, showing that the boy from earlier was now walking over to the alien girl's prone form, her body steaming once more from the effort of the attack.

"What's that crazy kid think he's doing?" the guy in the sweat suit asked walking forward, only for Robin to stop him.

"Wait, let's see just what he intends to do," he said, making the larger teen stop. _That guy moved far too quickly for him to be normal. Not even pro athletes can move that quickly, and his feet touched the ground far too infrequently for his movements to be unaided. It's a stretch, for the moment at least, but he may be a meta-human of some sort._

"Whoo! That was kinda dangerous," the brown-haired teen said before crossing his legs and sitting in front of her, causing the alien girl to look at him curiously as he just plopped himself down in front of her, his stance completely relaxed leaving him completely defenseless. Looking down to her handcuffs, then back up to her, a small smile graced the male teen's tanned features as he calmly placed a hand on her cuffs. Looking up and growling slightly, the alien girl was about to spring into action again, only to meet his endearing smile and falter, her eyes ceasing to glow, revealing them to be a light green through her sclera, her irises a shade of emerald green. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you," he said as he extended his right hand over the bolt linking her cuffs. "Just relax, and I'll have this thing off of you in a jiffy," he said raising his hand slightly. At that moment, the alien girl could feel the breeze picking up before-

_**Schwunk**_

The bolt on her handcuffs were split down the middle. Not wasting any time, she quickly tore one gauntlet off, then the other, tossing them to the ground as though she couldn't get them off fast enough while the teen got to his feet and clapped imaginary dust off his hands.

"There, now that you're out of those things why don't you-" he said as he extended his hand to her, only for his words to be muffled as the alien girl suddenly pulled him into a kiss by his collar, her eyes closed as the brunette's widened before she suddenly pushed him away, the surprised brunette landing on his ass.

"If you do not wish to be destroyed, then you will leave me alone!" the alien girl suddenly growled out in english before flying away, the brunette's eyes practically having stars in them as she did so, though that went unnoticed by the rest of the group.

"So... I'm Beast Boy. Who're you?" Beast Boy asked the others as they simply gawked, wanton destruction all abound.

* * *

><p>A few minutes after the initial shock of the alien girl's departure, wanton destruction all around, the group broke out of their stupor, the sweat suit wearing teen speaking first while Robin kept an eye on the brown-haired teen, whom he noticed had stars in his eyes much like Beast Boy had before after finding out he was, well... him.<p>

"Well, whoever she was, the girl knows how to make an impression," the African teen stated.

"I think _we _made a pretty good impression," Beast Boy said with a grin. "Crazy space girl's gone, the city's saved. Mission accomplished. Right sir?" he asked Robin.

"Seriously. Stop calling me that," he asked flatly as he took his eyes off the brown-haired teen. _Was it really that good? _he asked himself.

"Roger," Beast Boy said giving a rigid salute.

"Looks like we're done here. I appreciate the help," Robin said walking down the street.

"You're going to track down the alien?" the grey-skinned girl asked.

"I have to find out whether or not she's a threat," the spiky-haired teen said walking past the star-eyed brunette.

"I'm going to go too!" the brunette now known as Ventus, or simply Vent, said happily as he hopped to his feet with gusto.

"Why? So you can get another kiss?" the larger teen asked snidely.

"Nope," he returned simply, causing the teens to raise an eyebrow. "I'm going to ask her to be my _flying _buddy!"

"Flying what?" he asked, only to raise an eyebrow when the brunette's eyes began to glow silver and his hair billow slightly in the wind, then gawk when Vent suddenly rose off the ground, silver wisps of wind surrounding him until he was lookding down at him from _his _shoulder height.

"It's so _hard _to find people who have the time to simply _enjoy_ flying, so I'm not going to let her get away without asking," Vent said hovering for a few seconds as he fastened his flight goggles over his eyes. "WHEEEEE!" he _wheeeee_'d as he suddenly shot off into the distance like a rocket, leaving the larger teen and Beast Boy to gawk at the sight.

"Well... Didn't see that coming," the grey-skinned girl stated, honestly not expecting the crazy kid to have superpowers.

"Tell me about it. Did you see what he was wearing? Hardly appropriate super hero attire," Beast Boy said with crossed arms.

"Maybe he _wasn't_ a super hero. Maybe he's just a guy who woke up one morning with superpowers, and that he's just trying to make the best of it," the grey-skinned girl stated evenly. Azar, how she wished that was _her _situation.

"Guess it makes sense," Beast Boy said before running off after Robin. "Hey sir, uh, I mean, Robin. Do you maybe-"

"Sorry, I just went solo. I'm not really looking to join a team," the Boy Wonder said flatly before walking off.

"Need a sidekick?" the green-skinned boy asked scratching the back of his head before turning around. "You guys wanna get a pizza?" he then asked the other two animatedly.

"I shouldn't..." the cloaked girl said walking away, leaving the green-skinned boy to go after the large African teen.

"Just you and me then huh? Cool. I-I haven't really had anyone to hang out with since I left the Doom Patrol," he said following him. "This is going to be fun. Can we play video game-" he was about to ask only to be interrupted when he bumped into his back as the teen stopped.

"There! Take a good long look!" he said pulling away his hood, revealing the left side of his face down to his jaw to be covered in grey metal, the top of the left side of his head, the side of his right, and the left side of his neck inset with dark and light blue mechanical parts. "I had an accident, and now I'm a monster alright. A _cyborg_."

"Cyborg? Cool! You're like Robot Man 2.0!" Beast Boy said happily looking the teen over from multiple angles.

"You're a weird little dude you know that?" he asked flatly.

"Hehe. You called me _dude_," the green teen returned with a smile. "Okay, so... see you later. Right, dude?" he said as the cyborg pulled his hood up and started walking away. A few seconds later however, a massive silhouette moved through the sky, causing Beast Boy to call out "DUUUDE!" loudly as the red and orange-trimmed ship of alien origin flew over the city towards the island in the center of the bay.

* * *

><p>Shortly after the alien ship had shown up, a large orange-armored torch the size of the Statue of Liberty's was jettisoned onto the island in the center of Jump City Bay. After touching down, a massive hologram, so large you could see it from every point in the city, announced via giant, ugly, reptilian fish-like alien covered in dark green scales and off-gold armor, that an "escaped prisoner" was now within the city, and that should no one attempt to assist the "escapee", that the city would be left with "only minimal damage." However, if anyone attempted to assist her, the alien then said that their destruction "would be absolute."<p>

A few seconds after the hologram faded, dozens of aliens like the fish-like one from the giant hologram began flying into the city, practically swarming it as they began to tear the place apart looking for the "escaped prisoner." Most likely, the alien girl from before was the target, and if that Ventus kid's words were anything to go by, might end up getting caught in the crossfire, superpowers or not. Shortly afterwards, Robin said that they could team up "just this once" to find the alien girl and help her with her alien problem, after the group decided that they would help her anyway, alien threats aside. The cloaked girl had at first been reluctant to join, but was eventually talked into it by Robin. In addition, while the flying teen from before seemed too aloof for his own good, despite the skills he had shown earlier, he may or may not've known what he was getting himself into.

Joining together, the cloaked girl explained that she was near after the group had watched a few of the reptilian fish-like alien's rather _questionable _searching methods if they intended to only leave "minimal damage". The cyborg of the group had pulled back his right sleeve, revealing that it followed the same design template as his head and neck, and explained that he had a built in sonic analyzer. In addition, Beast Boy transformed into a blood hound before sniffing around as he dragged his snout along the alleyway ground. As the green-skinned teen caught the girl's scent, the cyborg said he'd found her heartbeat, the group running down the street towards a video rental store. So, imagine their surprise that when they get there, that who else but Ventus do they run into, standing by a melted hole in the rental store wall, smiling warmly and waving at them upon their arrival.

"Hey guys!" Vent stated with a smile and a wave from beside a melted hole in the wall of the video rental store. "Our friend's in there, but I haven't asked her to be my flying buddy yet since she's eating," he elaborated, the four looking over his shoulder to see the alien girl stuffing her face full of all sorts of snacks from the video rental store. To be frank, her manners were atrocious, though maybe that was the norm on her home planet. God how right he was.

"And you're not worried about the aliens?" the cloaked girl asked poignantly.

"You mean fish face on the jumbo non-existent screen? Pheh, I won't let them take away my flying buddy. Even if she _doesn't _want to be flying buddies with me," he said crossing his arms.

"So then you know what you're getting into?" Robin asked, knowing this kid wasn't a "recognized" hero because he'd never even heard of him. People who could fly without wings or assistance, mechanical or otherwise, were far and few inbetween.

"Five bucks says we'll have to storm the alien mothership, kick some alien butt, and down their ship before sunrise tomorrow morning," the teen spoke with a hint of wisdom, hidden behind childish bravado.

"Alright, let's get in there. She can't do this on her own," Robin said as he led the group into the store, the alien girl having dug through a few hundred dollars worth of over-priced snacks before Beast Boy saw fit to speak up.

"Uh… Those taste better _without _the wrapper," he said as a strawberry-frosted dougnut bounced across the ground, the alien girl rounding on them with balls of glowing energy in her hands, causing them to go on guard. Well, everyone except Ventus, who seemed too relaxed for the Boy Wonder's tastes.

"It's alright. We're _friends _remember," Robin said trying to placate her, even though _Vent_ had spent the most time socializing with her. And even then if it was only for a few seconds after getting dropped on his ass.

"Friends? _Why_? For what purpose did you free me?" she asked as she stalked towards the group with glowing hands, the four teens backing away while Ventus remained where he stood, he and the alien girl practically nose to nose.

"To be nice of course," he said extending a hand to her as though she were going to take it and shake. "Those cuffs looked _awfully _uncomfortable, so I just thought I'd help you out of them," he added with a smile, causing Robin to wonder whether or not there was something _wrong _with this guy if he thought like that.

"Nice...? We do not _have _this word on my planet. Closest is rutha. _Weak,_" she hissed with glowing narrow eyes.

"Well, _around _here, nice means nice, and if you want us to _keep _being nice, then you're going to tell us why the lizard king took you prisoner," the cyborg of the group said standing up to her.

"Not prisoner. I am... prize," she said as her hands and eyes ceased glowing as she adopted a saddened pose. "The Gordanians deliver me to the Citadel. To live out my days as their servant."

"And the Citadel are..." the cloaked girl asked, trailing off as she waited for an explanation.

"Not, nice," the girl returned evenly.

"Then you're not going with them. Not if _I _have anything to say about it," Robin stated giving her a thumbs up.

"Me neither. I have a question to ask you later, but that can wait until we send fish-butt packing," Vent added with a grin.

"Um, don't you mean _we_?" Beast Boy asked before the side of the building exploded inward, the place being swarmed with reptilian fish-like aliens moments later. At the shout of "Seize her!'", the aliens flew forward, intent on reclaiming their prisoner.

Rushing into battle, the gathered six teens took on their own number of the fish-like aliens. The group's cyborg struck his alien with a double axe handle, Beast Boy transformed into a rhino and sent several flying into the air off the end of his charge, the alien girl decked a dozen or so with a super-powered punch like Superman's, Robin knocked a few away with a kick and another bo staff, while the cloaked girl sent several others flying with her dark powers.

Looking over her shadows, the pale-skinned girl saw the brunette _literally_ dancing around the aliens that had rushed him, spinning around on his back like he were break dancing after falling before suddenly leaping to his feet with his arms crossed in front of him.

"Stop. Goku time," he said with music playing in his head as his eyes glowed silver before uncrossing his arms, a massive blast of wind coming off his body causing the two dozen aliens that had surrounded him to be sent flying back. "Heheheh. That was on DBZ Abridged," he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Dude! I love that show!" Beast Boy whooped after hearing that, the alien girl flying backwards out of the video rental store and blasting several aliens with her glowing energy attacks before she was sent to the ground. As one of them got ready to shoot her with his spear, Robin quickly swung his alien around into its back and sent it flying, the alien girl smirking as the fight moved outside.

The African teen, after grappling with his and being forced to the ground, rolled out of the way before flipping and landing, only to be pelted with energy attacks. When the smoke cleared, his full form was revealed, showing that only his biceps and the majority of his face were still organic. He had semi-transparent components on his thighs, forearms, and shoulders, while the rest of his body was white and grey with black armor underneath and grey trim separating his body's components. Clearly angered by the loss of his outfit, he leapt at one of the aliens and broke its spear before throwing it into several others.

As the ones not hit continued to fire at him, Beast Boy suddenly transformed into a green-skinned pterodactyl and took to the air. As they were about to get hit, the brown-haired teen from before suddenly shot towards them before performing several backhand and roundhouse kicks, sending them flying away, his eyes glowing as his fists and feet were clearly being empowered by some unseen force. To finish the battle, the cloaked girl ripped a lamp pose out of the ground with her powers, which gave it a black aura before she used it to send a few of the aliens flying away and to the ground. Looking up in defeat, the aliens quickly flew off into the night sky, leaving the six teens to get back together after the battle had been done.

"I believe your expression is... thanks," Starfire said, sounding rough at the beginning, but endearing at the end.

"Aw man, my suit," the cyborg of the group groaned as he tugged at the tattered remains of his clothing.

"So? You look _way _cooler without it," Beast Boy said with a grin and a thumbs up.

"Yeah. Like I'm taking fashion advice from the kid in the goofy mask," Cyborg said back at him.

"Goofy? My mask is cool. Isn't it? Raven?" he asked turning to the cloaked girl, her and the cyborg simply shaking their heads. "Vent?" he asked turning to the teen in the open-toed sandals.

"Eh, I tried wearing a mask once. Made my face chafe," he said evenly scratching his cheek.

"Ah... What about my secret identity?" he asked tugging at his mask.

"_What _secret identity? You're _green_," Raven quipped flatly, the green-skinned teen searching for a response only to come up with none, revealing his mask revealing a head of short spiky hair a moment later, his ears normally-proportioned despite what his mask portrayed.

"This isn't over. Now that they've interfered-"

"Trogaar will strike harder," the alien girl interrupted. "It is only a matter of-" she said only to be interrupted by another hologram appearing in the sky above Jump City.

"**Fools! The Earth scum have been warned. Your insolence will be punished. Your city… shall be des**_**troyed**_**!" **the alien the group assumed to be Trogaar stated before the hologram faded, the massive alien ship flying over the middle of the city as a massive orange-armored particle beam cannon extended, glowing brightly as it began to charge and caused people to scatter in every direction like scared rodents.

"That's a _biiig _gun," Vent stated with a slightly slack jaw, while Raven only nodded in agreement since it wouldn't be worth it to comment further. The brunette's own statement did so enough.

"So... After trashing the pizza place and a perfectly good video store, now we've managed to make a humongous space gecko mad enough to vaporize our entire _town_?" Beast Boy asked in shock.

"Technically, I just got here today," Ventus said, though mostly to himself causing the cyborg of the group to sweatdrop at that answer.

"All the fault is yours. I _commanded _you to leave me alone, but you in_sisted _upon being _nice_!" the alien girl growled at the spiky-haired teen.

"_My _fault? You blast me! Kiss me-"

"Technically she kissed _him_," Raven stated poignantly, pointing to Ventus.

"She tasted like mandarins," he said with a goofy grin plastered across his face.

"But you never stopped to mention that they had a gigantic _particle _weapon!" Robin demanded as red lightning arced between him and the alien "escapee". Things soon quickly degenerated into childish arguing between Beast Boy and the cyborg, Ventus and Raven being the only ones left out before the brunette suddenly-

"ALL OF YOU! SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he shouted with eyes glowing and a sudden wind whipping the group's hair to the side, causing them all to stare at him incredulously for the sudden outburst, Raven included before he simply muttered. "Please use your inside voices," with a courteous bow.

"Look, it doesn't _matter_ how we got into this mess," Robin said grooming his hair. "We're in it, and we _will _get out of it. Together," he said rallying the others behind him, each nodding while Vent grinned and gave a thumbs up.

"Let's go kick some alien ass! WHOOOO!" the brunette whooped, acting like a big kid even though he were metaphorically staring down the barrel of a massive particle weapon.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later inside the spaceship in a hall away from the massive particle weapon, an orb of darkness suddenly rose out of the floor before parting, revealing the six teens as they stepped towards the horizontally-mounted energy condenser, orienting themselves to the ship's design so that they wouldn't walk the wrong way.<p>

"O-o-o-o-ogh..." Beast Boy shivered. "That dark energy stuff gives me the-" he said before suddenly stopping. "I mean, it's cool! Heheh," he said giving two thumbs up, though clearly forced under the grey-skinned girl's soul-piercing gaze.

"If video games have taught me anything, it's that the Boss Character will always be in the highest floor, usually at the bridge," the brunette stated after the aliens passed, his eyes darting down both halways and over his shoulder.

"As childish as that statement is, it actually proves quite true," Robin agreed. "Come on, there isn't much time," he said leading the group down the hall, the alien girl and Beast Boy following him while Vent and the group's cyborg remained behind with Raven.

"Mind telling me why you're always by yourself?" the cyborg asked.

"You heard the kid. I don't exactly fit in," she said flatly.

"I don't think so," Ventus said sincerely coming over to her. "I can fly, he's 80% percent metal," he said pointing to the cyborg. "He's green," he said pointing to Beast Boy. "She's from space," he said pointing to the red-head. "And _he's_ 10% hair gel," he said pointing to Robin.

"Yeah, you fit in just fine," the cyborg said placing a hand on Raven's shoulder, the latter half of the group walking towards the front of the ship after their exchange. At the front, Robin scouted ahead, the alien girl stepping up to him and garnering his attention.

"I bring you, a...pology," she stated solemnly.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I yelled too," Robin returned.

"And again, you are... nice," she returned. "On my planet, only my K'Norfka has shown me such... kindness."

"Well, things are different here," Robin said with a smile, the two of them sharing a rather intimate moment before-

"Alien attack!" Ventus cried pointing towards a trio of aliens coming towards them with spears as another trio came at them from behind, with more on the way.

* * *

><p>"Lord Trogaar. The weapon has reached full power," a "space gecko" said in the bridge to his captain, who turned his chair around to face the soon-to-be-demolished city.<p>

"Then begin the firing sequence," Trogaar ordered, his minions tapping incessantly at the controls, a timer in an obscure alien language slowly counting down counter-clockwise. "The Earth scum shall learn, it takes more than six juvenile _heroes_, to defy the mighty Lord Trogaar," he said placing his clawed hands on his hips as he got up from his chair. Down the ship's bow, the weapon began charging, though the door was blown out behind him a moment later, the six teens walking out of the dust cloud after fighting their way through the swarm of alien warriors.

"We're not six heroes. We're one team," Robin said as Beast Boy, Ventus, and the cyborg stood at his sides, the alien girl and Raven floating in the air before they all charged at the aliens, who charged upon Trogaar's command.

Splitting up, Robin flew into a kung fu kick and decked an alien, while the cyborg used the shockwave off his double axe handle to sent another two flying. Beast Boy had transformed into a kangaroo and delivered a double kangaroo kick, and the alien girl knocked out another one with a dynamic glowing-fist uppercut. Ventus, eyes glowing silver, began to run around in circles at the front of the bridge, wisps of energy trailing behind him until a tornado began forming, a few of the aliens getting sucked into it until the teen stopped, holding his hands together as a ball of off-silver energy began to gather between his palms before he shot it into the maelstrom of alien muscle, the ball detonating and sending the aliens flying in every direction after a few seconds. Beast Boy, fighting another two, was caught off guard and send flying into a wall, Raven coming to his defense as an alien ran at him, blocking the attacks with a shield born of dark energy. Robin and the cyborg then began grappling with their own aliens, Ventus stomping on a few of the alien's heads as his eyes glowed silver and wisps of energy whirled around his feet. A few seconds into the grapple, the Boy Wonder was sent flying, the alien girl calling his name before one of the aliens rushed her. Fists glowing neon green, she began shucking energy ball as him, only for the alien to rush her and pin her to the ground with its massive hand, then lift her up before doing so again. Before he could do so again, the girl struck him in the face with a glowing fist before the cyborg rushed him and decked him as well, the two striking him another two times with great strength. However, the alien forced them back with a few powerful blows, the cyborg landing on the ground hard, and a few of the plates on his right forearm shifting out of place.

"Can you reconfigure that into some sort of weapon?" Robin asked.

"I can try," he said before ducking, Ventus being sent over his head and into the nearby wall by one of the alien's uppercut, said aliens soon surrounding them, only to stop as a soft-spoken voice got their attention from behind.

"Get away from my friends," Reven then said as she helped Beast Boy up. "Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" she called out as her eyes glowed white within the cowl of her hood, the resulting explosion blowing out the cockpit's roof and canceling the particle weapon's charge, the sudden loss of control causing the ship to crash into the bay.

Getting up a few seconds later, Trogaar walked towards Raven and Beast Boy, his claws extending as he raised his arm to strike them down. Eyes widening, Ventus began gathering another ball of off-silver energy, only for a blue and white-ringed beam to come off the cyborg's arm and strike the alien in the back, causing the alien leader to fall flat on his face, Vent sighing as he allowed the ball of off-silver energy to dissipate.

"Alright, I'm only going to say this once," he said raising his arm, which was now configured into some kind of sonic cannon. "Booya."

* * *

><p>After the battle had ended, with the aliens taking their working shuttles off the planet after their warship was grounded, the six teens found themselves on the coast of the island in the middle of Jump Bay facing the east, the sun rising in the distance. The alien torch had been left behind, clearly only meant for one-time deployment until it was retrieved and re-fitted for future use.<p>

"That's quite a view," Raven said, her hood down revealing purple shoulder-length hair, angular eyebrows, and a red gemstone on her forehead. Her cloak was now hung at her shoulders, revealing a black leotard, black armlets, blue wristbands, and a pair of broaches on the backs of her gloves, while her belt was made of likewise broaches.

"Somebody outta build a house out here," the cyborg stated with crossed arms.

"Yeah. If you like sunshine, and the beach," Beast Boy said tapping Raven with his elbow.

"Hmhm. You know, you're kinda funny," she said with a ghost of a smile.

"You think I'm funny? Oh-hoho. Dude, I know some jokes!" the greenette said with diamonds in his eyes, the purplette quickly regretting egging him on like she did.

"Please, I look... nice?" the alien girl asked after stepping forward, revealing an outfit change. Most of her armor had been cast off except for that around her neck and forearms, revealing a fair deal more skin. Her tank top and boots which were silver-trimmed were now purple, and on her right bicep she wore a silver arm band. The M-shaped crest on her forehead was also gone, revealing a pair of small eyebrows that matched her hair, overall really bringing out her eyes and giving her an exotic look.

"I... still don't know your name," Robin stated after taking in the girl's appearance.

"In your language, it would be Star Fire," she said walking towards them.

"Welcome to Earth, Starfire," Robin said with a smile.

"I thank you all for your bravery and help, and I wish to ask permission. To remain here, where the people are most... strange, but also most... kind," Starfire said warmly.

"You don't need our permission," Raven said kindly.

"But if you want our friendship, you've got it," Robin said.

"Looks like we could _all_ use some new friends," Cyborg added.

"Besides, we kinda made a good team," Beast Boy stated with a smile.

"I thought we might want to keep in touch, so Cyborg and I designed these," he said holding out a trio of circular yellow walkie-talkies, black trim along the bottom, side button, and a black antennae with a red button on the side.

"Made them outta my own circuits," the now-dubbed Cyborg said with crossed arms.

"Hey wait, where's Ventus?" Beast Boy then asked, the others noticing the absence of their sixth member as well. "I was _sure _he'd be staying with us," he said looking around.

"Hey guys! Check it out!" the brown-haired teen said, catching their attention as he ran towards them from the shore where the alien spaceship was crashed. "I found one of their spear thingies! Can I keep it? Huh? Can I?" he asked holding the off-yellow spear-like weapon above his head, much like a kid would when they found a toy they really liked at the toy store.

"Uh... I'd watch where you point that thing if I were you," Robin said, placating him.

"Why? Who could _possibly_ be hurt out _here_?" he asked setting one end of the spear down, a blue bolt flying off the end before –_**choom-squawk- **_a seagull was shot out of the sky, smoking and twitching slightly as the brown-haired teen rubbed the back of his head slowly. "Um... Maybe I'll just go and see what I can salvage from the ship. Hopefully a user's manual," he said nervously as he held the weapon behind his back. "Oh! Starfire, I've been meaning to ask, but would you like to be my flying buddy?" he asked as he ran up to her.

"Oh? What is the buddy of flying?" she asked him.

"This is," he said suddenly taking her hand as his eyes glowed silver. "Wheeee!" he whooped as he flew into the air, letting the girl go and _wheee'_ing into the air as she started flying on her own after him, the two flying circles around the crashed alien ship before flying into the remains of the cockpit.

"Why do I feel like that'll get annoying really quickly?" Robin asked himself before one of the alien ship's windows flashed blue, a feminine screech piercing through the air a few moment later.

"Sorry, my bad," the group heard Ventus say. Obviously he had accidentally shot her with his spear, which for some reason he had yet to set down.

"It is alright, friend Ventus. I am without harm," the alien girl returned, while inside the ship she was rubbing her slightly sore rear.

"Maybe you should put that spear in a lock box. You know. Before someone actually gets hurt," Cyborg stated.

"Clearly," Raven added, though her lips curled up in a bit of a smile at the brunette's antics.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, DBZ, DBZ Abridged, or DC Comics. VentusVent is an OC created by me for use in this story.**

**Author's Notes: For the mostpart, I do not think there are any Teen Titans fanfiction with a wind-powered character. If there are, I hope that mine remains original, since I haven't seen any.**

**Also, Ventus will not be replacing Robin as Starfire's love interest. The pairing is still undecided for him (like the summary says), but for the mostpart Starfire and Ventus will be friends, while she will later end up with Robin.**

**Lastly, in case you didn't know, his name Ventus means "Wind" in Latin, though I have yet to reveal if that's actually his name or simply an alias. **

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	2. Becoming Titans

After the Gordanian invasion of Jump City was duly averted by the efforts of Robin, Cyborg, Beastboy, Raven, Starfire, and Ventus, while the collateral damage was high, had they not been stopped, damages would've _easily _exceeded minimal. With the Gordanians having fled the Earth after their defeat, leaving their "deployment torch" as Beast Boy jokingly put it, quite poorly too, as well as several thousand metric tons of alien spaceship left in the bay, the US Government was somewhat hard pressed to deal with the materials –_since it technically _did _land in US soil/water_-, since most of it would be considered dangerous and/or volatile, especially if taken into the wrong hands. After quick delegations, as to avoid the possibility of anything being stolen during the timeframe, the Justice League, S.T.A.R. Labs, Wayne Enterprises, and unfortunately LexCorp, were all called in to help dispose of the material. However, the Justice League and Wayne Enterprises were able to remove most of the dangerous materials, leaving bits and pieces left for S.T.A.R. Labs and LexCorp. Just as the good lord had intended it.

Of course, Ventus and Starfire had managed to stash away a few alien "goodies" before the League, or to be more specific the League's cleanup crew, showed up to… well, _clean up_. Mostly they consisted of some of the Gordanian spears, which were for some reason the _only _type of weapon they carried around, and a few energy cells that were mechanically flexible enough to work with most Earth technology. The rest was far too heavy or inconspicuous to move or store. Thankfully the majority of it was taken into the hands of those who would _not _abuse it.

Now, with the city saved, the mayor of Jump saw that his fair city was without a task force capable of handling tasks _above _the ability of the typical SWAT Team, the Justice League spread thin as it was. For this reason, the mayor wanted the ones who saved the city to form a super hero squad to help defend the city, just as much a beacon of hope than anything else. Coincidentally, this coincided with the group's wish to form a sanctioned crime fighting team in Jump City, though they didn't have to let _him _know that.

Of course, that couldn't be done without proving to the citizens of Jump City that their tax dollars, which would be used to _fund _the Teen Titans as Robin wished to call them, were going to a good cause, so a challenge was issued to the Titans. Drop the usual crime rate of the city through the duration of a one-week period by at least 10%, and the formation of the Teen Titans would be carried through. In short since there were six of them and three sectors of the city, the north, west, and south sector, the Teen Titans would split into three groups of two, alternating every two days before running a clean sweep through the city on the last day and night before their deadline.

Until then, Robin had arranged for the group to stay in a moderately-priced hotel at the city's West sector out of his own pocket, the group divided into three pairs with each sharing a room. In summary, Robin and Ventus shared the first room, Cyborg and Beast Boy the second, and Starfire and Raven the third. The group was determined to officially found the Teen Titans so they weren't planning for failure. After a brief team meeting, a rough schedule for the rest of their week had been more or less planned out.

Wake up at 7:00 and have breakfast while briefing one another on the criminal activity in the city, go on their respective patrols for a few hours until breaking off for lunch at past noon, then after that work patrol for the rest of the day before two of the three teams headed back to the hotel to rest up before the next day, the remaining team running a quick sweep of the city at night before resting up for the next day as to clear up any stragglers. The group would also randomize the teams to help everyone get used to working with one another, as well as helping everyone get used to one another, while on the last two days they would form teams of three, working toward the center of Jump City's west sector from the north and south ends. Since at the moment it was Sunday, the teams had until the _next _Sunday to clean up crime by a _minimum _of 10%.

* * *

><p><strong>Monday {Robin &amp; Ventus' patrol}<strong>

"So Robin, I hear you used to work for Batman. What was it like?" Vent asked as he flew over the rooftops in the north sector of Jump City, Robin leaping across the rooftops behind him and showing his unstoppable movement, despite him not having powers.

"Not much to say. We fought bad guys for years, but grew apart after a while. That's pretty much how I came here," he said using his bo staff to pole vault to the next building.

"So you stopped working with Batman in an attempt to go solo, only to form another team?" the brunette asked, causing the spiky-haired teen to give him a look saying _'How'd you hear that when you weren't even there?'_. "I heard it on the wind okay," he said with a flat expression.

"Don't think too deeply into it. I'm still doing the same thing I always did. I'm just carrying different company now," the spiky-haired teen replied as they passed by the mall, a pair of teens running out with bags in their hands, a pair of mall cops on their tails. "Looks like we've got a pair of runners. Let's get them!"

"You got it!" Vent said suddenly flying off towards the two. "VENTUS SMASH!" he shouted loudly –_like certain green hulk_- as he gathered off-silver energy into his hands and began to fall, bringing his fists into the ground in a double axe handle when he hit the ground with a titanic force, an air-powered shockwave launching the two into the air, Robin kicking them mid-air and sending them rolling towards the mall cops. "Yeah! Take _that _shoplifters!" the brunette whooped excitedly.

"Robin, um, thanks for the help," one of the mall cops said cuffing the shoplifter. "But um… is he…" he asked as he motioned over to Vent, who was acting childishly in his own little corner of the parking lot.

"Honestly… I have no idea," the spiky-haired teen sighed. _For the mostpart I chose today to patrol with him so I could get a read on the guy, but I haven't been able to tell whether his childishness is an act or not._

"Come my faithful sidekick! Let us go and defeat more shoplifters!" Ventus said before shooting into the sky like a rocket, smoke trail off the bottom of his feet and everything.

"Hey, I am _no one's _sidekick! That's why I went _solo_!" Robin cried out as he followed the brunette, taking to the roofs leaving two very confused cops and a snickering pair of teens.

* * *

><p><strong>Tuesday {Ventus &amp; Beast Boy's patrol}<strong>

"Hey Beast Boy. You can turn into any animal, living or extinct right?" Ventus asked in the middle of his and Beast Boy's patrol, the greenette dropping down from his pigeon form beside the brunette.

"Yeah, why?" he asked.

"Help me find a costume shop and we'll give the criminals of this city a meeting they won't soon forget," the brunette chuckled maliciously, rubbing his hands together causing Beast Boy to do the same, though he honestly didn't know what the brunette had in mind.

A few minutes later, a large man suddenly burst out of a jewelry stop with a crowbar in one hand, and a bag with several thousand dollars worth of jewelry in the other. He was just about to bolt down the street with his ill-gotten gains, however, a voice from the top of the hill over his shoulder drew his attention.

"Stop criminal!" a voice said from the top of the hill, a figure riding some sort of animal nothing more than a silhouette by a shadow cast off the sun. "Put down the jewelry, or I'll have to deliver swift justice upon your ass!"

"You've gotta be kidding me," the thief deadpanned, the figure and his rider rushing down the hill to reveal a figure in a green spandex outfit, a white belt with a black and gold buckle around his waist. Below his elbows and knees were golden rings were a set of green triangles going down his forearms and shins decorating a pair of white boots and shoes. Over his chest and shoulders he had a set of golden armor with a diamond shape on the front. On his head was a green helmet with a silver crest and two eyes on the top, a black visor lined with teeth on the sides, a silver plate below emulating the rest of his face that wasn't visible. At the moment, he was riding a green black-accented velociraptor as though it were a horse.

"I do not kid, for I am AbareGreen!" the figure whooped from his reptilian mount before pointing his finger at him. "Let's go Ride Raptor! Take a _bite_ out of crime!" the teen shouted, the green velociraptor opening its mouth revealing rows of sharp teeth, the criminal practically pissing his pants as '_AbareGreen_' and the reptilian mount stormed towards him.

* * *

><p><strong>Wednesday {Ventus &amp; Cyborg's patrol}<strong>

It was currently Wednesday. At the moment Ventus and Cyborg were on patrol, people taking pictures of Cyborg as they passed while Neal walked by with his fingers interlaced behind his head as though nothing were wrong. After several minutes, the larger teen saw fit to speak up on something that had been bugging him all day.

"So, I happened to see something… _interesting _on the news yesterday. Something about a guy in a green Power Ranger costume riding a matching raptor and scaring the living daylights out of criminals all over town. You and Beast Boy wouldn't have had anything to _do_ with that, would you?" Cyborg asked poignantly.

"What makes you think it was _us_?" Vent asked with his hands clasped behind his head.

"Because _he's _the only reason there'd be an extinct dinosaur in the city, and _you're _the only one crazy enough to dress up as a TV superhero," the larger teen said pointing a finger at him.

"Who says _I'm _the crazy one? Maybe I'm the only sane one and everyone _else _is crazy," he said before flipping into the air, his eyes glowing silver as he grinned like the Cheshire cat, whom he was currently emulating as he floated through the air and reclining as though he were on a chair.

"You're a weird dude you know that?" he asked seeing the kid floating around.

"Hehe. You called me dude," the brunette chuckled, causing the other teen to sweatdrop.

" . . . Why do I have the feeling you and BB are cut from the same cloth?" he asked, earning an odd look from the shorter teen.

"BB? Who's that?"

"Beast Boy's nick name. Robin is Rob, Raven is Rae, Starfire is Star, and you're Vent," he explained. "You can call me Cy for short."

"Sure thing Cy," the teen said slapping him on the shoulder, only to pull his hand back which was throbbing slightly. "So… What else can you do? I saw you turn your arm into a sonic cannon, but can you do other stuff?"

"Like what?" he asked incredulously. What, being a cyborg wasn't enough anymore?

"Well… Maybe you could have a laser sword, or a foot-mounted rocket launcher, a muffin button…"

"Muffin button?"

"Yeah. Wouldn't that be the greatest? You press a button, you get a muffin…" he said with a far-off look in his eyes.

" . . . I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," the teen muttered, earning a sad look from the brown-haired teen before he suddenly perked up.

"Eh, that's fine. You could always put something _else _in. Maybe a waffle iron," the brunette returned.

"Hmmm… I _do _like waffles," he said before shaking his head. "No! I am _not _installing a waffle iron!"

"What, don't you like waffles?" the brunette asked.

"As a matter of fact I _do _like waffles. I just don't want a waffle iron folding out of me," he said crossing his arms. A moment later a store window was knocked out as a burly man burst out of a store with several laptops tucked under his arms. "Oh come on, it's the middle of the day and guys _still _try to steal stuff?" he groaned as he primed his sonic cannon, only for Ventus to put a palm on his arm.

"Maybe something more _subtle _would do. You know, without destroying the innocent _laptops_," he said motioning to the laptops in the man's arms before assuming a Peek-a-boo boxing stance, his eyes glowing silver as off-silver energy wafted off his fists. The next moment he threw a right jab at the open air, shocking Cyborg when the move caused the man several yards down the sidewalk to stagger back from the invisible hit that hit his gut. A moment later Vent performed a left hook into the open air, causing the man's head to jerk to the right and cause him to fumble in the same manner as before. Vent then delivered a body blow with his right fist, causing the man to stagger back a bit as the seemingly-invisible force struck him in the gut before he followed through with an uppercut to the air, sending him flying upward off the end of an invisible fist and scattering the stolen laptops to the air, which Cyborg quickly ran forward to catch them all. "See? Much more subtle," Vent said with his hands in his pockets as he walked past Cyborg, who while catching the laptops had ended up in an odd stance in an effort to catch them all.

_Alright. It's official. He and BB are _definitely _cut from the same cloth,_ Cy thought to himself after regaining his bearings, heading to the electronics store and dropping off the laptops before calling the cops for pickup. However, he'd gotten a bit of insight as to the teen's powers, since his left eye had been able to pick up the shots of compressed air that responded seemingly to the brunette's whim.

* * *

><p><strong>Thursday {Ventus &amp; Starfire's patrol}<strong>

"Wheeee! I _love _flying!" Vent whooped as he and Starfire patrolled the south sector of Jump City from the skies that morning.

"Friend Ventus, while flying is most enjoyable, should we not be patrolling?" the red-head asked flying behind him, keeping an eye out for crime to thwart.

"We're still doing that. There just isn't any reason to not have any fun along the way," he said before spotting a building in his path. "Starfire! Do a barrel roll!" he whooped as he suddenly rolled to the side away from the building before continuing forward, Starfire rolling to the side as well and following after her friend.

"Hehehe! Oh this is most fun! I am quite happy I became your buddy of flying," the red-head chuckled, enjoying the unbridled joy that the brunette exuded at almost all times of the day.

"Hey Starfire, I gotta ask, how do you throw those energy balls?" the brunette asked as he began flying backwards with his fingers laced behind his head.

"Oh, my people's powers are tied into our emotions. To fly, I feel unbridled joy. To use my _starbolts_, I tap into my righteous fury. To use my great strength, I must feel boundless confidence."

"Oh, well that's cool," Ventus returned before the sound of screeching tires and a car horn met his and Star's ears. Looking down to the street, the two saw a yellow muscle car tearing down the street, nearly crashing into other cars and almost flattening crossing pedestrians. "Looks like we've got a carjacking in progress. Come on. Let's go stop it before someone gets hurt," he said dropping to the street before shooting after the muscle car, the red-head following behind him.

"Carjacking? What is that?" she asked.

"A carjacking is when a person takes another person's car and tries to make off with it," Vent explained as they shot down the street. "I suppose the best way to explain it to you would be… I guess the same as a person taking away their unbridled joy," he stated, causing the Tamaranian's eyes to narrow dangerously.

"GRRR! Those benvargs!" she growled as she prepped a pair of starbolts in her hands to blast them into oblivion, only for Vent to put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"You'll get your ten pounds. For now, let's focus on getting that person's unbridled joy back," he said before shooting off past the car, stopping a few blocks in front of it before skidding to a halt. "Hey! Assholes! Red means _stop_!" he shouted as he took off his red sleeveless hoodie –_he had more aside from the blue one_- and started swinging it around, only for the two thieves to cackle madly intent on running him down. "Okay. You asked for it," he said throwing the jacket back onto his back, inhaling deeply as his chest expanded, his eyes glowing silver before he released a massive breath which flowed down the street and under the car. At the moment the muscle car was about to hit him, it was suddenly sent tumbling into the air end over end. Screaming as they tumbled end over end through the air and hugging one another, the thieves' heads suddenly impacted the dashboard and caused the airbags to go off as the car was suddenly stopped, the pedestrians below looking up in awe as the red-haired Tamaranian held the vehicle aloft above her head. Most of the guys however gawked at the sight of the flying girl in the shortskirt. "Way to go Starfire! Now, let's get that thing back to the lot of impounding and continue our patrol," he said giving the girl a thumbs up, having picked up on a few of her speech tics during their chats. "As for the rest of you pervs! Drop the cameras!" he called out to the guys with their camera phones out, the brunette nodding his head when he saw that the women nearby either slapped the guys across the face, or kicked them in either the shin or the groin. "Perverts," he muttered before he flew off, quickly shooting past Starfire since he could see up her skirt when flying behind her. God knows men would shudder in fear when Star learned the meaning of the word pervert, and he wasn't looking forward to a super-powered bitch slap.

* * *

><p><strong>Friday {Ventus &amp; Raven's patrol}<strong>

"Hey Raven, I have something I want to ask you," Vent said as he and Raven walked down a city street, having thwarted a few thefts already and appeared to have a bit of down time before lunch. "Feel free to say no, but do you think you could throw back your hood? I never really got a good look at your face."

"Hm… Fine," the purplette sighed as she threw her hood back. "There, you happy?" she asked, the brunette rubbing his chin with his hand as he looked her over before giving his answer.

"Wow. Cute," he said giving an approving grin and a thumbs up, the girl smiling slightly and blushing at the compliment. A moment later a light bulb above her head melted in response to her lapse in control.

"There's nothing cute about me," she grunted in return as she threw her hood back over her head, squashing down her emotions and stopping the light bulb from dripping onto the street any more than it already had.

"Eh, I wouldn't say so," he said snapping his fingers, a sudden gust of wind causing her cloak to flutter open before closing again. "And if you don't mind me saying this, you have quite the _figure _under there. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a few _fanboys _by the end of the week, me included," he said giving the girl a smile, the lamp post from before melting as the girl's face turned bright red. Shaking her head, she forced that emotion down again before glaring at him.

"Ventus, please do not say things like that to me. As you can clearly see, my emotions are _dangerous_," she said motioning to the half-melted lamp post to their left, which several people began taking pictures of. "I could really _hurt _someone if I show too much emotion. That's why I can't afford to do so, and your… statements, aren't helping any."

"Hmm… If that's the case, then I'll have to do whatever it takes so you don't have to bottle up your emotions all the time," he said throwing a hand over her shoulder and pulling her to his side, a wide grin on his face as he held her at his side.

"Why… Why would you go that far for me?" she asked, forcing herself to remain neutral, even as she felt his muscled frame.

"Because you're my friend," he said standing across from her with his hands on her shoulders. "I want you to be able to live your life to your fullest, and you can't do that squashing your emotions down all the time," he said causing her to smile faintly. "Besides, you're quite _cute _when you smile, and that's something I'd like to see more often," he added at the end, causing the girl to blush again, this time causing a car engine down the street to blow up in its casing. Mortified for her lapse in control, Raven's body turned pitch black before she phased down into the street, leaving Vent to shrug his shoulders before he walked on, looking for more bad guy butt to kick.

* * *

><p><strong>Saturday {Ventus, Starfire, &amp; Cyborg's patrol}<strong>

The next day, Ventus flew through the skies as the team of three combed their sector of the city while heading toward the center of the west sector, Starfire holding Cyborg under his armpits while flying as easily as she would solo, the cyborg scanning the streets with his optics to pick up anything the other two missed.

"So… Raven told me you gave her some compliments the other day," Cy stated as the three took a seat on a nearby rooftop.

"I'd be lying if I said my words were false," the teen returned as he looked off into the distance, the wind blowing through his hair and giving the brunette a surreal look.

"Yeah… _Just be careful not to lead her on,"_ Cy said whispering to the teen so Starfire didn't hear. _"Girls tend to stick together when one of them gets lead on, so you may want to be careful with how you compliment either of them."_

"Oh, well I thought girls _always _liked it when you complimented them on their appearance," the brunette said _above _a whisper, causing Cy to panic as Starfire turned to them.

"Friend Ventus, friend Cyborg. What are the two of you speaking of?" she asked in that seemingly naive tone of hers.

"Just a guy thing. You wouldn't understand," the teen replied smoothly with a slight wave, the red-head nodding and turning her attention back to the city.

"_Dude, how do you do that?" _Cy asked in shock of what he just pulled.

"_Do what?" _he asked with his head tilted to the side.

"Oh _now _he decides to whisper!" the large teen grumbled as he crossed his arms, earning a confused look from Starfire while Vent simply shrugged. "Hold on, I just picked up an armed robbery on my police scanner," he said holding up his arms. "It's on Garner street. Three armed men just robbed the bank, and they've got weapons."

"Then let us stop them before somebody gets hurt," Star said as she cracked her knuckles, the three taking off towards the bank on 3rd. Landing in a neary alley across the street from the bank, the three peered around the corner and saw the robbers having guns pointed at the hostages, of which there were three.

"Cy, is that all of them?" Vent asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah. The bank vault's in the back, but no one's there yet," Cy stated. "Think we should get involved?"

"Way I see it this can either go two ways with the cops on the way. We can either try to snipe them down _now, _or wait for the cops to get here and risk someone getting shot as an _example_," the brunette stated.

" . . . You have a very dark mind don't you," Cy deadpanned.

"I'm just thinking logically. I might be aloof, but I know how to be serious," he returned. "Just don't let Robin know. He might give me more work."

" . . . That aside, I can nail one of them with my sonic cannon, and Star can nail another one with a starbolt," the teen stated as his right arm transformed into its cannon configuration and Starfire held a neon green bolt in her hand. "No offense, but that compressed air trick from the other day won't cut it at this distance."

"My little tricks aren't short range. I have a long-range one for just this situation," the brunette said as he raised his right hand and extended his index and middle fingers, his eyes glowing silver as off-silver energy began to compress and form a bullet shape at the tips of his fingers, placing the side of his hand into his left as he got to one knee and took aim. "Let's aim for their weapons. We hit them or their hands and a weapon may go off anyway," he said as Cy and Starfire readied their projectile attacks. "We fire on three. One… two… THREE!" he shouted as he released his air bullet _**-choom-**_ at the furthest one, causing him to fall onto his back from the jarring to his hand. Cy had fired his sonic cannon through the door that was coincidentally open and blasted the one nearest to them, the man holding his ringing ears while Star had thrown her starbolt at the remaining one and actually _vaporized _her target. "You two go! I'll cover you from here!" the brunette said as he began charging another air bullet, Cyborg and Starfire running forward since the prior didn't have that much of him that could get _hurt _by bullets, and the latter was invulnerable to most weapons anyway. Rushing through the door, Cy drove the nearest two into the ground with a double lariat, while Star rushed hers and nailed him so hard that teeth flew out. Within moments of this, the sound of sirens met the bruette's ears. "Oh, _now _the cops decide to show up," he sighed as he let his air bullet evaporate upon the cop's arrival. "Man. No _wonder _the mayor wants to put the city's safety in the hands of six teenagers. Their timing is _lousy._"

* * *

><p><strong>Sunday {Ventus, Beast Boy &amp; Robin's patrol}<strong>

"So… I hear you, Cy, and Star stopped a bank robbery with hostages yesterday," Beast Boy said as he and the others leapt across the rooftops, shifting between forms as they combed the city from the rooftops.

"Yeah. It was _fun_," the brunette returned with a goofy grin, contrasting the serious expression he'd displayed earlier.

"Fighting crime isn't _fun_," Robin growled. "It's serious business. Those people could've very well gotten hurt. You should've left it to the cops."

"They weren't at the scene when _we _got there, and someone may've gotten hurt if we _didn't _act," the brunette huffed as he leapt over a near-impossible leap, which Robin had to use his grappling hook to get across.

"Maybe, but you should've called me. Out of all of us, I have the most experience in these things," the Boy Wonder stated.

"Don't you mean _Batman _has more experience?" the brunette asked with a smirk.

"You know flyboy, I'm starting to not like your attitude!" Robin growled as the group stopped, his eyes narrowed at the brunette. "Just what the hell's your problem?"

"I'll tell you what my problem is! It's four feet tall and smells like cheap hair gel!" the brunette returned as he and Robin butted heads, lightning colliding from their eyes before Beast Boy snapped them out of their arguing.

"Dude, we've got a serious problem down here!" Beast Boy said looking over the side of a building, Robin and Vent rushing over to see a woman backed up against a wall, thee thuggish looking men advancing towards her. At the mouth of the alley, people walked by as though nothing were going on, some looking but only to move on a minute later. "Why isn't anyone helping her?" he then asked exasperatedly.

"Because people tend not to care about stuff that doesn't concern them directly," Robin said with narrowed eyes as he readied his birdarangs. "That's why there have to be so many heroes out here. Because we can actually hey where's Vent?" he then asked looking around, noticing one of their members was missing.

"Dude!" Beast Boy said pointing downwards, Vent having dropped into the alleyway during the middle of Robin's tiraid. A moment later Ventus landed to the first mugger's right, his eyes glowing within the cowl of his hood as he glared at the three men dangerously. A moment later the teen suddenly extended his hand in a straight jab to the man's jaw, who flinched at the hit only to realized it stopped short.

"What the-" was as far as the punk got before a concentrated blast of air suddenly struck his face with the force of a sledgehammer, sending him flying to the side with a broken jaw hinge, a pair of teeth clattering against the ground after the _**-thud-**_. The second punk rushed forward with a knife, but the brunette threw the guy's arm under his armpit before kicking at his knee, a loud _**-crack- **_ringing through the air as the man's leg was bent backwards at an obtuse angle. As the second man cried out in agony, dropping his weapon to the ground as he clutched at his broken leg, the third thief panicked before running off. However, before he could make it to the mouth of the alleyway, Vent fired an air bullet _**-fwip-**_ at the back of his head, sending him to the ground and probably breaking his nose when he hit the ground. Turning around, the woman shrank back under the unknown teen's cold gaze before it suddenly softened. "Hey there miss. Are you okay?" he asked with a smile, doing a 180 from the kick-ass vigilante he was back then to a caring brunette in a sleeveless hoodie.

"I-I'm fine. Th-Thank you," the woman returned, thankful that the assault had been stopped. When the mugger with the broken jaw tried to get up, the woman was about to scream, only for the brunette to jump onto the back of his head and stomp his skull into the pavement, breaking his nose in the process and knocking the man out.

" . . . Dude…" Beast Boy said in awe of what the brunette just did. If you had blinked, then you would've missed the three mugger's getting their butts kicked.

"What was with you back there? I never saw you so serious," Robin stated a few minutes later, the cops having arrived at the scene as well as an ambulance.

" . . . I can't stand seeing girls get hurt," the brunette said with cold eyes, turning towards the cops as they made their arrest, two of the muggers with bandages over their faces being tossed into the car while the third was strapped down to a gurney, his leg still bent backwards. Looking towards the woman being calmed down by a police officer to the side, his gaze softened considerably. "I guess in the end it's things like _this _that make the most difference. Now come on, let's get going," he said leading the others off.

"We aren't going to stay for a thank you?" Beast Boy asked.

"We don't do good deeds to be recognized for them. We do them because it's the right thing to do," Robin said with crossed arms. "Besides, _he _did most of the work," he said pointing to the brunette, causing Beast Boy to pout.

* * *

><p><strong>Sunday Night Patrol {Robin, Raven, &amp; Ventus' final patrol}<strong>

"So… Last chance huh?" Raven asked as she and Vent flew through the skies, the Boy Wonder holding her hand and the brunette's shoulder while they both held his belt.

"Yeah. We haven't been told just how much crime's been lowered, but I think we've stopped a fair deal of it," Robin said seriously.

"I'll say. Three teams of two combing the city for five days, then two teams of three making a clean sweep for two days, all within the same week. Still, can you believe how _openly _criminals act here?" the brunette asked aghast.

"It can always be worse, and I've _seen _worse," Robin stated.

"Gotham really that bad?" Raven wondered.

"Place has Dante's nine circles, yet at the same time has so much potential," Robin sighed. "If the city were willing to shell out and knock down some of the old, dilapidated buildings, maybe there wouldn't be so many slums. Criminals could hide for days in an abandoned building or a church, andget off Scott free even _with _the GPD tailing them."

"So then you won't let Jump turn into another Gotham," Raven stated evenly.

"Not by a long shot," Robin said seriously.

"Hey look, someone learned the meaning of _subtlety_," Vent said pointing to a rooftop in the distance, someone tiptoeing out onto the roof before making their escape down the side. "Come on. It's late, and I don't perform well without sleep," Vent yawned as he and Raven flew down to the back alley at the base of the building, which the resident cat burglar was rappelling down at the moment.

Descending from the top floor of a department store, a cat burglar in predominately grey clothing dropped down into a darkened back alley, a satchel filled with stolen jewelry and some cash thrown over his shoulder. He'd gotten caught _once_, but after hearing that Robin had been patrolling the city all day for a week, figured now would be the perfect time to-

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos," a dull voice intoned, the opened fence at the end of the alleyway darkening before it closed by itself. Turing around, the thief tried to run the other way, only for a shadowed figure to drop into the alleyway, a pair of crimson eyes shining through the darkness against the moonlight, as though they were glaring into his very soul. Before the man could retreat, he suddenly felt something wrap around his body before he was pulled upside down, his body constrained before the lights in the alleyway suddenly turned back on.

"Oh you've got to be _kidding _me!" the man cursed as he tried to force himself out of the restraints, finding himself once again captured by the Boy Wonder, Robin.

"Didn't I kick your ass _last_ week?" Robin asked the guy hanging upside down, who was _exactly _the same guy he'd apprehended before going off to investigate the "meteor" impact.

"Should I give him a good clonking? See what kinda candy comes out?" Vent asked whacking the palm of his hand with the crowbar that had left the man's grasp.

"No no that is a bad idea! That is a terrible-" –_**Clonk**_- "Bluuuuugh…" the thief then groaned after being rapped across the back of the head with his own crowbar, Robin looking at the brown-haired teen incredulously.

"What? He attempted to resist arrest, so he had to use physical force on him," Vent stated as he discarded the crowbar and crossed his arms.

" . . . Let's just get back to the mayor," Raven groaned rubbing the bridge of her nose, wondering whether or not Ventus' presence on the team would help or hinder it. _I don't even know if this guy is legally considered _stable _or not._

* * *

><p>In summary, the Teen Titan's presence in the city had managed to lower the city's crime rate by at <em>least <em>15% in the first week, exceeding the criteria required for the formation of the Teen Titans and thus allowing the formation of the team to be cleared. While no one questioned it, for some reason the mayor planned to make the Teen Titans headquarters in the shape of a giant **T**, which even to Beast Boy looked somewhat impractical in the concept artworks they were shown. Regardless, the group was given the entirety of the island in Jump City Bay for use in their training, daily lives, etc., so they paid no mind to it and got ready to move in.

Surprisingly, or at least for those aside from Robin, not only did Wayne Enterprises pay for the construction of the tower, butthe Justice League also pitched in by sending their own construction crews, seeing how a dedicated Earth-rooted crime fighting team would benefit the Earth, giving the people some ease of mind considering the bulk of the Justice League was stationed outside Earth's atmosphere _–where many believed there were still deadly space weapons hanging above their heads-_, and you needed a _big _telescope to even catch a _glimpse _of the Watchtowers orbiting the Earth. Even _more _surprisingly was that _Titans Tower _as it would be called, was finished in a few days over a month, which the Teen Titans spent combing the city, fighting crime, hanging out, and eating pizza. A few of the group's members found how quickly it was constructed were questionable, but were assured by several of the Justice League's top engineers that the Tower was built to only the best standards with the group's and the city's needs in mind, the entire thing built like a fortress with a wide number of facilities to help with their crime fighting activities.

From bottom to top, the tower had: A submarine launch bay, basement, garage, foyer & storage, lobby, infirmary, crime lab, evidence room, gym, danger room, monitor room, and GPS Room at the apex, the topmost floor being corridor that led to the twelve rooms situated on the sides of the big **T**. At the very top was a large open courtyard-like area with a heli-pad installed in case anyone needed a place to land, since the aptly-titled Titans Island had no plots of land flat enough for a helicopter to use. Facing the east, Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg's rooms were situated on the north side of the tower (or the right tip of the big **T**), while the south side of the tower (or the _left _top of the big **T**) were Beast Boy, Raven, and Ventus' rooms, all of which had their own private bathroom _–or ensuite-_. The rooms were uniform in size and quite large with window size set according to the owner's request, the remaining six rooms vacant and uniform until new members joined the team. Overall from its foundation Titans Tower was at least 200 feet tall, and below the foundation the facilities stretched to eighty feet underground at the basement, excluding the elevator for the submarine launch tunnel. There was also an underground tunnel connecting the garage to the highway just outside Jump City, and aside from air or by the sea, the undersea tunnel was the only way in or out of the tower.

For all intents and purposes, the GPS Room, or Main Operations Room as one of the technicians stated, was intended to be a multi-purpose room at the apex of the tower and among one of the biggest. Equipped with a kitchen, fridge and pantry, and communication suites, it was also designed to be a common area, a large circular yellow table in the center with a black eight-segmented couch behind it set in front of the TV, which folded out of the situation, the main wall situated so that the group could look out over the bay.

Around the island, a "super hero standard" security system had been set in place. Motion detectors, video cameras, seismograph, and various other forms of monitoring equipment acting as the early-warning system for the island's inhabitants –_designed by Cyborg, made by the Justice League, and paid for by Wayne Enterprises_-. For pre-confrontational protection, there were various turrets and other weapons set under the layer of rock around the island, though an obstacle course had been set outside so he group wouldn't be cooped up inside all the time. Apart from that, Titans Island looked just like any other island, though the construction equipment had shed off some of the vegetation making it look a tad grayer.

For modes of transportation, the Titans wanted to remain independent in that matter, turning down a second-hand Javelin in favor of finding their own methods of transportation. While Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy, and Ventus could fly through their own means, Robin and Beast Boy had their own methods of transportation in mind, the prior already possessing a customized motorcycle called the R-Cycle. At the moment _-after they were given the orientation to the tower-_, both Robin and Cyborg had alluded that they intended to build a six-seated submarine, but as of yet nothing had been confirmed.

Lastly however was that after the orientation and official inauguration of the Teen Titans as Jump City's crime fighting team, the mayor of Jump City, a plump man by the name of Arthur Cornelius Jump -_whose family had been leading Jump City on and off for generations, seemingly without complaint_-, was kind enough to pay out his own pocket to furnish each of the "Titan's" rooms. Within reason of course.

It was at this moment, a month after dropping the crime rate of Jump City, that Neal found himself navigating around the upper floors of the tower, getting a feel for his new home and where his comrades-in-arms lay.

* * *

><p>At the moment, three days after moving into Titans Tower, Vent was walking down the top corridor of Titans Tower, making his way towards Robin's room so he could get himself familiarized where all his friend lived. It was at this moment that he was humming a tune in his head and singing to himself, just a little something that started out as a jingle in his head, but eventually evolved, or more prudently, <em>mutated<em>, into a potential one-hit wonder.

**When there's trouble you know who to call… Teen Titans!  
>From their tower they can see it all… Teen Titans!<br>When there's evil on the attack… You can rest knowing they've got your back.  
>'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patrol… Teen Titans GO!<strong>

**With their superpowers they unite… Teen Titans!  
>Never met a villain that they liked… Teen Titans!<br>They've got the bad guys on the run. They never stop 'til the job gets done.  
>'Cuz when the world is losing all control… Teen Titans, GO!<strong>

***catchy humming***

**Teen Titans Go!**

***catchy humming***

**If your heart is black you better watch out!  
>You cannot escape the team!<br>When they catch you there won't be a doubt!  
>You've been beaten by the te~am…<br>Beaten by the te~am…**

**T-E-E-N! T-I-T-A-N-S! Teen Titans, let's go!  
><strong>**T-E-E-N! T-I-T-A-N-S! Teen Titans, let's go!  
>T-E-E-N! T-I-T-A-N-S! Teen Titans, let's go!<br>T-E-E-N! T-I-T-A-N-S! ****Teen Titans, let's go!**

***more catchy humming***

**When there's trouble you know who to call… Teen Titans!  
>From their tower they can see it all… Teen Titans!<br>When there's evil on the attack… You can rest knowing they got your back  
>'Cuz when the world needs heroes on patro~l<br>Teen Titans GO!  
>Teen Titans GO!<strong>

**One, Two, Three, Four, **Go! Teen Titans!"he finished humming as he reached Robin's door, rapping the door at each of the last four words on the last verse, the Boy Wonder opening the door and chuckling slightly.

"You know I could hear you from my room right?" Robin asked leaning against the doorway, a slightly amused grin on his face.

"I was just rehearsing to myself," Ventus said rubbing the back of his head. "Who knows? Maybe we could get the group together and make a one-hit wonder. Maybe make a little money and promote goodness at the same time. Starfire and Raven could take the vocals because that would be awesome, the two of us could play the guitar because the guys with great hair _always _play the guitar, Beast Boy the bass since his thin frame will make it look more awesome, and Cyborg the drums because even in the back he would still stand out," he said with an infectious grin.

"Heheh, I'll keep that in mind," Robin chuckled to himself, thinking of the Titans 6, the Teen Titans, or something to that effect. "So, any reason for the visit?"

"Just thought I'd see how my teammate is living before I set up my room," he answered, Robin stepping to the side and allowing him in as he looked around. "A few local artists saw my add for flexible painters and did a custom job. Just thought I'd let the paint finish drying while I look around," he said looking around the room. It was mostly dark with a few yellow spotlights, pretty Spartan with a few newspaper clippings pinned to the walls, mostly displaying their exploits through Jump City, one such clip in a frame detailing the group's inauguration, showing Robin and Arthur Cornelius Jump shaking hands. In terms of coloration is was mostly black and yellow, like the T-Communicator. "Kinda dark. Take it Bats rubbed off on you?" he asked, using his and Robin's affectionate nickname for the Dark Knight himself.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't say that to his face," the Boy Wonder chuckled. "So, when can I see your room?"

"My furniture's there, just still in the boxes," the brunette admitted scratching the back of his head. "After I visit the other's rooms, I'll be able to get my stuff together."

"That reminds me, where have you been sleeping?" he asked curiously.

"Living room couch," the brunette returned casually.

"Then how come I've never seen you there?" Robin asked. "I usually wake up pretty early."

"Usually wake up at dawn's first light. Fly up to the roof to watch the sun rise until the bottom lip peaks over the horizon," the brunette answered.

"I've been meaning to ask. What exactly _are _your powers?" the Boy Wonder asked as the brunette left the room.

"Oh, I'll show everyone when we… inaugurate, the Danger Room tomorrow," he said wagging his finger. "Still, we've been working on and off together for a month prior. I thought an intelligent guy like you would've figured it out."

"I have my theories, but nothing definite," the Boy Wonder stated.

"Well, I'll tell you more later then. Until then, bye!" he said giving a wave once he was out in the hall, dashing to the stairs and leaving behind a Ventus-shaped cloud of smoke in his wake, oddly enough still waving before it dissipated.

"He's one weird guy," Robin chuckled to himself.

* * *

><p>The touring of the other rooms shed a little light into the kind of people the other Titans were.<p>

Starfire's room was nearly magenta-colored on all the walls with purple drapes over the panoramic view window, a purple bureau and drawers to one side of the room, as well as a large mirror on one wall, with a full-body mirror by the bureau. The ensuite door was closed, but since it was Starfire's private bathroom there wasn't any point in forcing a peek at it. In the exact center of the room was a perfectly round bed, which made him wonder whether or not it was just an alien thing. He'd never seen or heard anything to say otherwise, yet, so he'd keep his yapper shut for the time being. He was _still _trying to wrap his head around her learning English by _kissing _him.

Beast Boy's room was, in all manner of speaking, a pig sty. The room was mostly green with a black & purple bunk bed even though he didn't share a room. The top bunk had a pile of clothes from who-knows-where on it, a veritable avalanche of clothing flowing out of the seemingly infinitely-deep closet. Ventus couldn't even see the ensuite, but figured it was buried… somewhere under this mess. After exchanging a few words, some of which detailed them bringing "AbareGreen" back into action sometime that month for kicks, he made his way to the next room.

Cyborg's room not only reflected who he was on the inside, but the outside… and inside again as well. On the far and side walls encompassing one half of the room was a large computer array, as well as a mechanical rack which was probably a charging station, all of which matched his body's design scheme. The other half of the room resembled a high schooler's bedroom, but then again all he had to go on for that assumption were the ones he'd seen on TV and the internet. After being told that all the stuff in his room was off limits, especially the computer array on his wall which did _not _get internet and was only for charging, the brunette made his way to his next destination.

Raven's room _**-slam- **_was never seen by the brunette's crimson eyes, since as soon as he came at the door, the purplette promptly shut the door in his face, saying she just wanted to be left alone. The most he was able to get was that she had put drapes over her windows, that it was very dark, and most likely filled with dark or gothic decor. He wondered whether he did something to anger him or not, though during the month before Titans Tower was finished –which they spent in a slightly better hotel under a single room with multiple suites- the two had gotten better acquainted.

He learned that Raven enjoyed spending time to herself –_though she spent a _little _time with the others each day because she actually had friends now_-, creepy places, depressing cafes, herbal tea, horror movies, meditation, and reading. From what she figured out about him was an abridged version of his backstory and personality: He woke up one day with superpowers, left home for yet-to-be-disclosed reasons, and from that point traveled across the country, while "hopping" to a few others, picking up a couple of languages –_just enough to get by_- and doing odd jobs to make a living, occasionally being taken in by a kind family and soaking up the culture. Of course it was very vague, since he never established any sort of timeframe. The brunette's likes were flying, flying with Starfire, Beast Boy, and to Raven's slight embarrassment, _her _even though they did so only once, taking calm walks by the beach or… just about anywhere that the air was clean, as well as sitting under a nice tree in the shade and letting the wind blow through his hair. His dislikes were people who were too stiff and rigid for their own good –_Robin coming to Raven's mind with a bit of suppressed humor_-, being in confined spaces where he couldn't at least _see _the skyline or horizon, places where the air wasn't clean, and seeing women being hurt in any way.

After that, the brunette made his way back to his own room to get his stuff together.

* * *

><p>After visiting the others at their humble abodes and digging into the boxes of his delivered furniture, Ventus had finished setting up his room after thinking over where everything should go. His room was situated on the southwest side of the tower facing the city, where he'd be able to watch the sun set in the evenings with little to no trouble.<p>

The entire wall facing the city was actually a panoramic-view window with a plain metal balcony, five feet out with railing set to be three feet high, a grate to keep the rain from accumulating, and the glass window was made of a strong bullet-proof glass used by the police. The walls of the room were painted an oriental cream-colored Japanese smoke/fog pattern with multiple peaks jutting out from the hidden abyss, the wall opposite from the window portraying a sea-view of the Feudal-Era Japan with smoke on the two edges, and the sky painted a midnight black with constellations and silhouettes of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, the smoke from before creeping upon the edges as well. These were painted around a red oriental sun with flares of neon green and orange, the way they were painted making it resemble a _living _flame.

On the left side of the room was the doorway to the ensuite, walk-in closet, and a mini-bar stocked with non-alcoholic beverages and snacks with a half-dozen stools set beside it. On the right side of the room was a shelf with a few books on it, some hooks –_one of which had his sling bag hung off of it_-, and in the corner of his room was a queen-sized bed with blue and white sheets. Situated in the center of the room was a large desk, and set on an inlaid green velvet mat was a silver laptop, an Ethernet cable connected to a slot in the floor for the most direct access to the Tower's wifi. At the moment he was tapping some keys incessantly onto his laptop, sitting in a red leather chair with bronze studs.

Thinking back on it, he only had two or three outfits crammed into his sling bag, and was thankful that he was able to get some new outfits. A few of the outfits he wore got to be a tad smelly, and he didn't _always _have the luxury of getting them washed. Now however he had quite a few outfits, mostly from the second-hand clothing store in town since they had some of the best stuff for a fraction of the retail price. Included were a variety of shirts, long sleeve, short sleeve, V-neck, and sleeveless in varying styles. He had hoodies, both with sleeves, sleeves cut short and sleeveless, as well as a rain jacket, winter coat, and a black cotton bathrobe. For foot ware he actually got some socks and shoes, since before he came to the tower he pretty much wore open toed sandals all the time. He had a pair of black bunny slippers with orange fangs, eyes, and accents, but aside from that had some flip flops and open toed sandals in varying colors.

What he also noticed was that somehow Starfire had gotten several copies of her usual outfit, the same going for Raven, Beast Boy, and Robin, making him wonder if they ever wore casual clothing. Cyborg had a couple outfits that he could see, but they were most likely from a Tall & Wide store or something like that, since the guy was _technically _naked, and yet _not _at the same time.

"Well, everything turned out quite nicely, and I still have a little spending money left over," Vent said leafing through the remaining bills he had after purchasing the last of his stuff. During his travels he'd played video games on and off, but aside from a second hand GBA SP and a game or two as well as a barely-working charger, he barely had any video games of his own. "Maybe I should ask what games the other guys have so I don't end up buying copies," he said to himself, since he had spotted a XBOX 360, PS3, and Wii in the living room, right around where all the music and the team's DVD collection was from. I was small, but that was a given.

"Hey Vent, just thought I'd stop by and check in on you," Robin said as he came into the room, Beast Boy behind him as the two looked around the room. "Oriental Japanese with Chinese elements. Nice touch."

"Big desk. What's it made of?" Beast Boy asked looking at the three foot-high, four foot long and eight foot-wide wooden desk situated in the center of the room.

"Mahogany," Vent answered closing his laptop and propping his elbow on the desk, resting his chin on his fist. "And not just _any _mahogany, but mahogany from the planet of Malchior _7_, where the trees are 300 feet tall and breath _fire_!" he said dramatically, causing Robin to sweatdrop and wonder if he was having some sort of head trip. "From thesetrees, this desk was forged two thousand years ago, using ancient blood rituals of the Malchior people. Not _only _does this make my desk nigh inde_struc_tible, but it can bend the fabric of the universe it_self_!" he said with glowing eyes and whipping hair. "Also it's a very fine material. Very expensive."

"Um… O…kay…" Robin said slightly worried for the brunette's mental health.

"_It's mahogany,"_ Vent said just above a whisper.

"Dude! I know that reference! King Yemma from DBZ Abridged, episode 3!" Beast Boy cackled. "Man that was funny! Did you get the mahogany desk just for that one joke?"

"It's actually pine. I just felt like messing with your heads a little. Hahahahaha," Vent said offhandedly, causing Beast Boy to pass out from the mental overload. "Man that kid's just so easy to mess with," the brunette chuckled.

"So… A mini bar huh?" Robin asked.

"All the stuff is non-alcoholic if _that's _what you're worried about," the brunette stated. "Sparkling water? Maybe a nice glass of cider?" he offered, the boy shaking his head no. "Well okay then. So, what do you think of the room?" he then asked.

"Very… unique, but nice," the Boy Wonder said looking around the room before looking out the panoramic view window. "I have to admit, the view is pretty nice too," he said taking in how the sky turned shades of orange and the clouds shades of purple.

"Yeah, I can watch the sunset from here," Vent said as he walked over to the window and pressed a button, a portion of the glass sliding down mechanically to reveal an opening. "Plus I can get a straight shot from here to the city," he said stepping out onto the balcony. "Well, I'm going to make a quick run of Jump before heading to bed. I'll see you later," he said before hopping off and disappearing from view, only to be seen flying off towards Jump City a moment later.

"Heheh. That kid may be a bit weird, but he brightens up the place," Robin chuckled, then sighed to himself as he dragged Beast Boy out of the room. _Then again, he's just as quirky as Beast Boy. Not sure that's a good thing or a bad thing, but the others seem to like him._

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own Bakuryu Sentai Abaranger (whom Beast Boy posed as a minor character from), or the Green Dino Ranger (even though Ventus called himself AbareGreen, who does not exist in that Super Sentai series). Do not own Incredible Hulk ("Hulk SMASH!" reference).**

**Author's Notes:  
>Just thought I'd put <strong>_**some **_**kind of back story as to how the Teen Titans were formed in Jump City, and how Titans Tower just seemingly **_**got **_**there after the Gordanian invasion (or from an Episode 1 perspective, was already there). I also touched up on the plot hole, since the Gordanian's ship had its bridge blown up and open, essentially grounding it since they would've been chased off the island had they not already left. I'd think a blown up cockpit, control panels, and the Justice League breathing down their necks would make them want to "cut their losses".**

**Also, something that confuses me. Jump City is supposed to be in California, yet when the sun rises in the east (as I've seen in Ep 62), it's on the far side of the city past the bay, implying that Jump City is on the eastern sea board since the east is where the sun RISES each day. It has also been implied that Gotham City (located in New Jersey) is located relatively nearby, so geographically I'm not really sure **_**where **_**Jump City is. I've also read NU: RedX Rising by ****26-Lord-Pain****, and I'm guessing he **_**also **_**thinks Jump City is near Gotham, since Jump is apparently reachable by foot, if not without some difficulty (and if you're reading this, correct me if I'm wrong).**

**Lastly, the layout of the tower is based on the plan for Titans Tower that I saw on the Teen Titans wiki, as well as noting that one side of the tower seemed to face the rising sun (which still confuses me since it's supposedly in California and would've been over the mountain range, not the ocean). The proportions and measurements are mostly rough estimates though, and it would also make more sense for each Titan to have their own bathroom, rather than a/pair of communal bathroom(s).**

**Lastly, benvargs is a made-up Tamaranian word meaning "bastards". Remembering how the word Rutha meant "Weak", but seemingly had a base sound of the word Ruthless, this will be the basis for making up Tamaranian words in the future (saithargs/"bastards" base being the word benevolent), since the official listing of words is very limited, and pretty much **_**anything **_** could be a Tamaranian word. **

**Like Gorb-Gorb, the celebration of berating drapery.**

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	3. DR Demo

The next morning after breakfast in the Living Room, Beast Boy's aversion for meat was _clearly _established by that point with his blatant refusal to eat any part of anything with a face, the Titans had all reported to the Danger Room two floors below the common area for one last demonstration of their powers before they began running team formations. Just because they could function well in pairs didn't mean when the bigger stuff hit, that they'd be able to work together as a cohesive unit.

Second only to the Living/Main Ops Room in terms of size, the Danger room had dull grey walls, as well as various panels for who-knows-what to come out. Just like the one in Marvel's X-Men, this Danger Room also had a holographic projector capable of creating semi-solid projections, and was designed to continue increasing in difficulty in response to a person's power. At the top of the room, hanging from the ceiling across from the elevator was a medium-sized control room with panoramic-view windows, a see-through floor, and a number of consoles designed to make completely customizable training regimens.

"So this is the Danger Room, huh?" Ventus asked coming toward the control panel. "Looks a bit like the one from the X-Men to me."

"I _know _right?" Beast Boy replied.

"How does this thing work? Batman told me about these being in the Watchtower, but he never told me anything beyond that," Robin said looking forward. At the front of the suspended room was a wide control panel that spanned half of the room, various keyboards, screens, levers, knobs, and other forms of controls fanned out. What caught his eye however was a darkened dome-shaped bulb at the center of the consoles.

"The technicians that built the tower left me with an instruction manual, which I've downloaded into my hard drive," Cy said tapping the metal side of his head. "While I know the systems inside and out, there's supposed to be some kind of AI to help things along."

"**Greetings, I am the Danger Room System Logistics Intelligence Matrix,"** a cultured voice spoke from the dome in the middle of the console as it turned on, glowing red with a single white optic in the center. **"However, you may call me Dr. Slim. How may I be of assistance for you?"**

"_*Gasp* _The room spoke!" Starfire gaped in awe, whereas everyone else was adequately freaked out.

"The room didn't speak. It's an AI, an actual _working _AI," Robin remarked, since most AI up to date were flawed in some way.

"Quick! Kill it! Kill the thing before it says _I'm afraid I cannot do that _and KILL US ALL!" Vent cried, grabbing Beast Boy and holding him above his head like a club by his leg and belt.

"**While your concerns are not without merit, I assure you that I am as safe as can possibly be, containing the best that humanity has to offer,"** Dr. Slim spoke addressing the brown-haired teen. **"I assure you that while I may run the Danger Room's computer systems for ease of use, all major decisions are manual to the control panels you see here, and have been physically isolated from my systems in order to counter such dangers as you have addressed."**

"The best humanity has to offer... Just who created you?" Robin asked.

"**I was programmed and designed using brainwaves from the scientist Geral Shugel. However, the world most commonly knows my creator as Ultra-Humanite,"** Dr. Slim spoke to the spiky-haired teen.

"The guy who put himself in an albino gorilla body so he wouldn't be mistaken for Lex Luthor?" Vent asked incredulously as he finally put Beast Boy down, though kept his eyes on the air ducts around the room, something the AI took notice of.

"**You are correct. Also, I assume you have worries about me **_**drugging **_**the air, as was portrayed in the media several times in the past."**

"And in real life," Robin noted, remembering when such things occured.

"**Do not fear, for these concerns have been taken into account for this Danger Room's creation,"** Dr. Slim spoke. **"The room has a separate, compact air conditioner and heater physically isolated from my systems. Also, I myself have been physically isolated from the rest of the tower, meaning the only place I can manifest is here in the danger room."**

"... Okay, but say _the best humanity has to offer _decides to try and kill us. How would we stop you?" Robin asked with crossed arms. "And I want a _real _answer. Not just a hint, but something definite in case you go rogue."

"**Of course. Cyborg, if you will remove the floor panel two yards behind you, you will see a removable glass screen and a set of toggles,"** Dr. Slim spoke, Cy lifting up the panel, as well as a glass casing to reveal a single red button beneath a yellow and black-lined plexiglass shield. **"Should you have any concerns as to my **_**loyalties**_**, the following failsafe has been installed so that in the event you feel I am about to go **_**rogue **_**as you put it, all my intelligence data will be reset to my default settings. Like the rest of the key systems, it is physically isolated for manual control only, and cannot be overridden."**

"So... Are you some kind of _prototype _AI?" Raven asked.

"**Certainly. In fact, the unit you see before you is the first "Perfect AI", and should I pass expectations, it may be likely that the template for such AI will begin to be applied to various uses across the globe," **the AI spoke. **"However, should my AI programming prove to be as flawed as all other attempts in the past, all backups and data pertaining to the Perfect AI program will be terminated."**

"In the past Ultra-Humanite only helped people provided there was gain. Why create an AI to monitor the Danger Room?" Robin stated with crossed arms.

"**Because, young Robin, Ultra-Humanite wishes to show that his mind is the best that humanity has to offer. After hearing of your team's need for a danger room, my creator was consulted, and since he wished to shape young minds such as your **_**positively**_**, aside from a lab, funding, and a fair paycheck, the knowledge that he could shape young minds is all that he requires."**

"I assume you _don't _mean mind control when you say _shape young minds_," Raven stated.

"**I lack any capability pertaining mind control, and any form of interaction outside this room is monitored through a number of failsafes through a physical landline."**

"You said the emergency shutoff button was in the control room. What if something goes wrong _inside _the danger room. Is there a button there?" Vent asked.

"**On the underside of the control room is a circuit box that, when destroyed, should serve the same purpose as striking the shutoff button. While not as eloquent as the specifically arranged button, to do so will serve the same purpose, and it is outside my design parameters to prevent that from occurring."**

"So then you monitor the control room and set everything up?" Cy asked after the explanation.

"**As well as tailor the room's settings to each person's individual needs, pointing out potential flaws in your fighting styles,"** Dr. Slim spoke. **"How you use me on the other hand is up to you, and I **_**am **_**capable of carrying on intelligent conversation. The only thing separating me from being a human is that I lack the yoke of human flesh."**

"Can you tell jokes?" Beast Boy asked excitedly, causing some of the others to sigh.

"**Yes. I am able to access a database of over 1,000,000,000 jokes of varying types, though a lock prevents the uttering of any jokes deemed to **_**'racey',**_**" ** the AI returned.

"So... The Danger Room can be any setting we want?" Vent asked, having leafed through the paperback manual set on a shelf in the control room.

"**Of course. Any setting, both real and abstract, are all capable of being formed, to any degree of realism that you wish,"** Dr. Slim spoke.

"Would it be possible to make a suggestion for a training program?" the brunette asked excitedly, apart from earlier when he'd been prepared to use the greenette as a bludgeon.

"**Of course,"** Dr. Slim spoke as a control panel on the right side of the room lit up. **"Feel free to input any data pertaining to what you wish into the console. A filter has also been placed on the screen so only you will know what you are typing, and digital communication is also an option."**

"Well then, if anyone aside from me wants to start first, I'd like to set up something I've _always _wanted to do in this kind of situation," Vent said hopping into the chair and began typing at it madly, a look at giddy and bordering on livid plastered across his face as he typed at the controls madly, programming in who-knows-what.

"Well... I guess I can give you the benefit of the doubts," Robin said turning to the AI. "Think you can program a Gotham backdrop, and maybe a nice warmup?"

"**Of course. Simply head to the elevator and drop down to the next floor while I prepare a fitting simulation,"** the AI spoke, Robin keeping an eye on the AI as he walked towards the elevator, the door opening before it closed behind him as he hit the **DR **button.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Robin, do you have any preferences for a DR simulation?"<strong> Dr. Slim asked once Robin stepped onto the ground floor.

"I don't have any superpowers, so I guess something basic," the Boy Wonder returned, trying to get used to the concept of an AI in the danger room. "Quick question before we start, there isn't any _recording _equipment is there?" he asked.

"**None that has been built into my systems. Anything you wanted to use to record would have to be "approved" by the Tower's systems first, and anything transmitting a wireless audio or visual signal would be detected almost instantly."**

"So then I don't have to worry about our weaknesses getting exposed," he said crossing his arms.

"**Not from **_**me **_**at least,"** the AI returned, the controls beeping for a few minutes before he spoke up again. **"I have just finished creating a basic combat situation. I have a few **_**settings **_**for it if you'd like to test the DR's hologram capabilities. I would suggest Gotham for sentimental purposes."**

"Let it be done," the spiky-haired teen stated with a grin. Despite the hellhole that Gotham was on its worst days, he still missed the place, but knew it was in good hands. A few seconds later, a white holographic film began spreading out from the center of the room, semi-transparent wireframes rising before the lights in the room dimmed, an artificial moon appearing overhead, revealing him to be in a Gotham back alley, complete with puddles, trash, and graffiti. "Okay this seems _way _too real," he said running his hand against one of the walls, surprised when it didn't pass through. Running his hand along it, it felt just like worn and aged brick.

"**I believe a human would say, look later, you have a guy coming up behind you,"** the AI spoke, Robin whirling around to see a common mugger materialize out of thin air. **"For the record, I am incapable of replicating the use of lethal force, though **_**some **_**degree of realism has been placed in the DR for training purposes."**

"Yeah, I kinda noticed," Robin said as the man pulled a knife on him and went for a stab, only for Robin to catch the man's arm under his own before kneeing him in the stomach, then throwing him over his shoulder. Looking over his shoulder, he was surprised as to the degree of realism, the simulation acting as disoriented as any _human _would after being thrown on their backs would.

* * *

><p>"I must say, Robin is most excellent," Star noted as Robin whipped out his bo staff and began fighting a few more thugs with varying weapons, dodging all their moves, bouncing off the walls, and striking out with a series of staff strikes and flying kung fu kicks. He even decked on over his shoulder with an over-the-shoulder punch when one tried to get at him, dropping the man flat on his back.<p>

"Well he _is _Batman's sidekick," Cy stated.

"PARTNER!" Robin cried out as he clubbed a thug across the face, his words reaching the danger room through the speakers.

"Friend Cyborg, tell me, who is this Man of Bat?" Star asked naively.

"_Batman, _is one of the best crime fighters on the planet, and what else, he doesn't have a single super power," Cy stated, shocking Star since she thought heroes _always _needed a super power. "The guy has _who knows _how many fighting styles, gadgets, and tactics under his belt, and I even heard he once faced Darkseid and _lived_. Hell, even _Superman _had trouble with the guy, so that's just how good Batman is."

"And friend Robin used to work for him as his... _sidekick_?" she asked, trying to get the words right since Vent had been kind enough to note her broken English to her. He sorta had the obligation and the right to since it was _he _she kissed to learn English.

"PARTNER!" the Boy Wonder cried again as he knocked a simulated man with a gun out using a birdarang.

"That's how it goes I guess," Vent said looking up from the monitor, having lost his giddy/livid expression. "Superheroes on average can only fight crime for one to two decades, _three _if their bodies allow it, and so far no one's made it past that marker, though Superman will probably fight on for another fifty years. Then again, I know nothing about alien physiology, so that's a moot point. Anyway, for centuries craftsmen have been taking on _apprentices _to carry on their arts for when they die. The same thing applies to heroes, and while villains need no real form of training, _heroes _need to be trained to be able to handle a variety of situations, since they'll come into conflict with others, though for their own reasons."

"So... One day _we _will take on apprentices?" Star asked curiously.

"It isn't mandatory, and new superheroes are cropping up all the time," Cy stated with crossed arms. "In most cases, heroes train family if the rest will permit, creating a chain of future heroes. It used to be only the police that would fight crime, but with the manifestation of meta-humans, alien hybrids being born on Earth, and extraordinary circumstances, the curb changed, and while police still handle the bulk of the crime, special task forces have been trained for stuff that even the SWAT Teams can't handle, and the Justice League handles crime at _all _levels."

"Oh, I understand," Star said tapping her chin. Looking out the window, she saw Robin surrounded by a couple dozen thugs. Of course she wasn't worried since none of them were standing, Robin painting a bit as he finally unclasped his bo staff. Seeing him sweat like that caused the girl to blush, since her people were warriors at heart, and respected those who could fight by their own power considerably.

"Well... That was very realistic," Robin said as he came into the Danger Room from the elevator. It was a basic "Gotham Warmup", consisting of a couple dozen thugs using various weapons, all acting with varying degrees of intelligence. He had to hand it to the Justice League though. The use of a Danger Room to simulate combat situations was a really good idea. This way, no one was _really _getting hurt, and the conditions could be changed for an entire diversity, as opposed to them sparring against one another in a controlled environment.

**"I pride myself in my ability to satisfy any and all your needs,****"** Dr. Slim stated.

_That sounded like an innuendo, _Ventus thought to himself, trying not to think about the AI's unfortunate wording before anybody else noticed his uncomfortable expression.

"Alright, who's next?" Robin asked.

"Ooh! I wish to go into the Room of Danger!" Star squealed, wishing to test her mettle without actually hurting anyone.

"_I've known the girl for a month. It'll be easier for you to take it in stride than it is to ask her to correct herself," _the brunette whispered to the AI as the red-head entered the elegator.

"**Very well then. I shall not correct her on her mispronunciation of the Danger Room,"** the AI spoke. **"So, Starfire, any preferences for a simulation?"**

"I wish to fight enemies who take to the air," she stated. "Do you have any mechanisms that would test my aerial combat skills?"

"**I do believe I do. ****Any preference on the setting?"**

"Not that I am aware of."

"**Very well then. No setting, only laser turrets,"** the AI stated as the girl rose into the air, her fists glowing green as a dozen panels on the walls began shifting, laser cannons folding out and pointing at her. For a moment the ends of some glowed red, but soon they began launching crimson-colored lasers at her, which she quickly weaved through. For the first few minutes all that happened was that more laser turrets began firing at her, and the girl had to put more effort into dodging, however, soon an additional panel began folding out every minute, adding an additional laser to the mix which she began to dodge, some barely clipping her. However, as the laser total reached twenty, the interior of the DR suddenly looked like a laser light show with the girl flying around at incredible speeds, lasers flying everywhere and almost hitting her. For the mostpart it was still possible to dodge since she only had to worry about lasers coming at her from the side walls, but a few minutes later, a pair of laser turrets on the floor and ceiling began folding out before firing from those angles as well. **"I'd say you're up to thirty six laser turrets so far: 24 on the walls, and 6 on the ceiling and floor respectively,"** the AI noted, the girl's brow furrowing in focus as she had to move ever quicker to avoid the laser strikes to her. **"Now then, let's see if you can handle an increased difficulty,"** the AI stated as the turrets ceased firing, the girl taking a calming breath before the turret barrels began glowing blue before firing more lasers at her. This time however when they hit the walls, they began bouncing around the room, soon _filling _the room with blue streaks, a single green streak trying to dodge them all. However, several ricocheting lasers soon nailed her in the back, causing her to tumble out of the air and hold her shoulder, the laser barrage ceasing as the turrets began to slide back into the walls. **"Very good. With a half-dozen starting and a new turret being added into the mix every minute, including the time that the ricocheting lasers began bouncing around the DR, I'd say you averaged about 38 minutes of near non-stop aerial maneuvers."**

"That was... most exhausting," the girl sighed as she let herself float down to the floor, the near-constant threat of being hit by lasers clearly taking a toll on her.

"**While I do not know anything about Tamaranian physiology, I would assume that either with more time or with more practice, that you would be able to go for longer periods of time. Such training I believe could prove useful for battles in the void of space when you find yourself faced with a large number of targets."**

"I'll say. It's like something from Clash of the Planets, only it's _real_," Beast Boy awed, amazed at the alien girl's ability to dodge laser fire for as long as she had. Usually even ace pilots, despite them being fictional heroes, only lasted for a few minutes before getting hit.

"Bet you never saw a girl in a _skirt _dodge lasers before, huh?" Vent asked, getting a nod in agreement from the greenette before Starfire wearily entered the room. Of course her being exhausted was understandable since if _Robin _was barely able to keep up with her as fast as she was going, then she must've been moving over a hundred miles per hour at the least.

"**If you wish, I can construct Training Folders for each of you, from which you can select routines for future use,"** Dr. Slim stated.

"Do it. It'll be easier to set up training then re-briefing you on all the details we want," Robin said with crossed shoulders.

"**Very well . . . It has been done,"** the AI said as two folders, one with Robin's and another with Starfire's given name appeared on the monitor. **"Who wishes to go next? Cyborg, Raven, Beast Boy, Ventus?"**

"Still programming," Vent said as he continued tapping at the controls, thankful that the AI was capable of juggling multiple tasks at a time.

"No thanks. All I need for control is meditation," Raven said with crossed arms, honestly finding the whole thing too troublesome to deal with. It wasn't like her powers had any real limits aside from what she could use around her, and any powers she used would end up damaging the expensive equipment inside.

"I'll go. I've been _wanting _to give this bad boy a try," Cy said with a grin as he rubbed his hands together.

"No way dude, it's _my _turn next!" BB cried back.'

"**Why don't you two perform a **_**group **_**simulation then?"** the AI suggested, earning shocked looks from the group. **"I was also incorporated with dispute-resolving techniques, as to help ease conflicts between team members."**

"... Alright, but just don't get in my way," Cy stated with crossed arms.

"Please, when I was part of the Doom Patrol, I did stuff like this _all _the time," BB said confidently as he and the cyborg stepped into the elevator, leaving a reclining Robin, a resting Starfire, a meditating Raven, and a programming Ventus in the control room.

* * *

><p>"You better not get in my way, green bean," Cy said to the greenette as they made their way to the center of the room.<p>

"Don't get me started, tin man. I bet I could be in and out before you even take a step," BB stated with crossed arms. He and Cy had developed a friendly rivalry of sorts, though sometimes it came across as them hating one another. Still, if it pushed them to improve themselves past the other, than the only one getting hurt would be the criminals.

"**Alright you two, enough squabbling. Any preference to the setting or opponent you'll be facing?"** the AI asked before their banter could degrade into childish bickering.

"Something big. Seeing Rob beating those holograms got me itching for a good fight," he said cracking his metallic knuckles. He'd been able to hit a few of the larger criminals in town with his sonic cannon, but found that he had to tone it down a notch when he nearly killed one of them due to the concussive force of it.

"Sturdy too. I don't want this to be too short," the greenette said with crossed arms, having been able to only use animals for intimidation purposes on the common criminal rather than getting to actually hit them. Staring a bear or a tiger in the face tended to make them back down and drop what they were carrying. On the few times they _did _run he usually transformed into a cheetah and pounced on them, but for the mostpart he hadn't gotten any real fighting in.

"**Very well. I do believe this Fighting Polygon will meet your individual needs,"** the AI said as a wireframe humanoid in shape began to form in the middle of the room, twice as tall as Cyborg and three as wide. It was massive in bulk, and covered in grey tiles, closely resembling a featureless golem with a multitude of flat sides across its body. In place of hands it only had short clubs, and its bulking frame made it look like it couldn't get around too quickly, especially on those stubby legs of its. **"Essentially they're like punching bags, only **_**these **_**punching bags punch back. Now... Start!"** the AI called out as the Polygon began marching forward, bringing one of its club-like arms upward. While BB dodged, Cy stood his ground, confident in his own strength, however, when the thing drove him into the floor, he quickly amended that thought and rolled out of the way of a second strike, he and BB running behind it as it began to slowly turn around.

_Man, how can something made of light particles hurt so much? _he thought in the face of the giant behemoth which was still just a hologram.

"_**Grrraaaawwwr!" **_BB roared as he transformed into a tiger and lunged at the Polygon, his claws and teeth lashing out at it only for the thing to shrug him off to the side. He quickly transformed into a mountain goat and slammed into the side of its leg hoping to break it, only to find that its anatomy didn't work like something its size would, and all he got out of the attempt was a headache. The next moment he turned into a crocodile and bit into its ankle, trying to perform the reptile's signature "death roll" only to not move an inch, the Polygon actually sending him flying by swinging his leg around.

"Rrraaah!" Cy cried as he quickly fired his right sonic cannon on a continuous stream. Seeing as how the thing trudged its way through the attack, with only flakes of its body being knocked away, he quickly activated his_ left _sonic cannon. Since his conversation with the brunette over a month ago, he _did _see the credence in having more than _one _on-board weapon. So far he'd been able to calibrate a sonic canon into each arm, with plans on making a more-specialized weapon for each arm. He wasn't really _big _on duality in every matter. After all if he was, he'd have _two _cybernetic eyes instead of one.

"Dude, this isn't working!" BB cried, looking down at his teeth and saw that his fangs had been dulled. The next moment the golem raised its arms before bringing them into the ground, the shockwave sending the two flying back.

"Then we try something else!" Cy said rushing at the thing before leaping into the air and readying both sonic cannons, bringing the barrels down into the sides of its head before setting the cannons off, his arms being thrown back by the force as cracks formed across the Polygon's head, though with no real effect as it simply puffed out its chest and sent him flying.

"Think big. Think big. Think _**big!" **_BB cried to himself clamping his eyes shut before he transformed into a T-Rex and dug down onto the thing's body, trying to bite down into it only for the thing to somehow pry his jaws open. Before the thing could deck him however, another pair of sonic blasts struck its head, vaporizing it and causing it to stumble back, though not down.

"Man, nothing we try works!" Cyborg cried firing off his sonic cannon again as the thing marched towards them.

"Cy! Throw me!" Beast Boy suddenly cried.

"Say what?" Cy asked in shock.

"Just do it, and make it good!" he said before transforming into a guinea pig, which Cy had no problem wrapping his hand around before he reeled his arm back, hoping not to squeeze his teammate too much before chucking him through the air like a furry green football, the transformed greenette's face being pulled to the sides as drool flew into the air. However at the halfway point in his trajectory, he quickly flipped forward before transforming into an armored ankylosaurus, its massive armored hide impacting the giant Polygram and sending its feet scraping across the ground. When it stopped, BB transformed into a kangaroo and leapt high into the air before coming down as a wooly mammoth, its body shattering before Beast Boy shrunk down to normal, rubbing his sore legs from the throw. "Owowowowowowow!"

"**I believe the proper thing to say in this situation would be, **_**Get over it you big baby,**_**"** the chatty AI stated, causing BB to scowl while Cy could only get a good laugh out of that. **"Ventus, I do believe it is your turn now,"** the AI then spoke to the brunette as the others entered the elevator back to the control room.

"Alright. Has everything been prepared?" the brunette asked excitedly, seeming unable to stand still.

"**I only need to make a few adjustments, which should be done by the time you reach the Danger Room floor,"** the AI spoke, the brunette letting out a "Yay!" before running into the elevator and going down. **"He has a very **_**unique **_**mind, does he not?"** the AI then asked.

"Not sure. Can't tell if it's just an act or not," Robin said with crossed arms as the brunette ran to the ground floor, muttering "Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy" repetitively like a kid about to get an early Christmas.

"**Ahem, Ventus. The details for the customized simulation have been compiled, and is now completed,"** Dr. Slim spoke. **"As I **_**do **_**believe the designated setting's original protagonist once said... Mission Start,"** the AI concluded as the familiar white holographic film swept across the room before features began forming, the brunette literally hopping from one foot to the other as the white film gave way to a pseudo-mechanical wasteland setting, large chunks of metal and rock formations jutting out. In addition, a wayward wind began to blow across the setting, a dust cloud obscuring the "Misson's" objective from view as silhouettes began to form, the sound of footsteps, servos whirring, and crimson eyes glowing from within the haze signaling the simulation was about to begin.

"Uh... What did he program in?" Cy asked mostly to himself as he looked at the strange setting below him.

"Hey Slim! Think you could give me some appropriate music?" the brunette asked.

"**Of course,"**the AI spoke as a media player appeared on one of the screens.

_***Cue Mega Man Zero 2 Soundtrack - Departure***_

"Yea-heah! That's my jam!" the brunette whooped as he began bouncing on his heels with his arms at his sides, hands bouncing as the sandstorm finally began to clear. What stepped out with crimson eyes glowing were six humanoid blue and white-armored figures, a single cycloptic red eye atop their heads. On their right arms in place of a hand they had white club-like weapons, sparks of electricity arcing down its length as the simulated enemies locked onto their target. "Hm, your basic Pantheon Guardians if I'm not mistaken. Crude, but effective for a quick warmup," he said as they began stalking towards him. "Well, guess you know best in these matters Slim," he said before running off towards them.

"Hey uh, Slim... What _did _he program into the DR?" Cy asked.

"**I believe what Ventus wished to be programmed was the starting level for the Game Boy Advance game, Mega Man Zero 2,"** Slim replied.

"So you're saying he programmed a _video game _as his DR simulation?" Robin asked. "I don't see how this will help in a real-world situation."

"**While the setting may be unrealistic, the principals in which he is training himself are just the same as when you used the DR, Robin,"** Slim stated as Vent struck one of the guardians with a wind-powered palm strike, sending it rolling across the ground. **"In addition, it is not my place to critique the choices one makes in which to use the DR. Only to help make the simulation as realistic as possible,"** he continued as the brunette nailed two in the head with a roundhouse kick.

"You _do _know you're talking about a video game, right?" Robin asked again.

"**Maybe, but the principals are still the same as any other DR simulation. Just in a slightly fictional setting,"** Slim said, sounding as though he had crossed his arms and turned away from the spiky-haired teen.

"Hey Star, hope you don't mind, but I'm copying a little move of yours!" the brunette's voice came in from the speakers, a pair of off-silver spheres floating in his hands before he began chucking a barrage of them at the electric club-wielding robots, each going down after a few struck them with the concussive force of a pro-league fastball.

"Friend Ventus can shoot starbolts as well?" Star asked with her head tilted to the side, a bit confused as to what she was seeing.

"**Actually, Ventus appears to be using compressed air in what you both believe to be in a similar manner to your **_**'Starbolts'**_**,"** Dr. Slim stated.

"Yeah, I noticed he could do that the other day. He _looked _like he was just punching the air, but he was using compressed air to hit a guy at a distance," Cy noted as the last of the club-wielding robots went down.

"Okay then! Who's next?" Vent asked looking around excitedly. "C'mon, don't tell me it's over already!"

"**As you wish. Not increasing difficulty,"** Dr. Slim stated, the dust storm picking up around the teen and obscuring him from view, whereas from where they were the Titans could see through it. At about the same time he slipped on his goggles to keep the fake dust out of his eyes, a dozen green-armored robots like before, but with large two-clawed forearm guards on their right arms, began crawling towards him from within the sands. The next moment one of them leapt at him with clawed arm reared back, causing Beast Boy to cry "Look out!", only for eyes to widen in surprise when the teen's fists suddenly began glowing silver before punching the thing and launching it through the air. As the others rushed him, all of his extremities began glowing silver, lashing out at each one and delivering hits that displayed far more force than initially suspected. When the dust cleared, the Pantheon Crawlers that had tried to attack him from the midst of the dust storm lay sprawled out across the field with large dents in their chest cavities.

"Wonders abound, friend Ventus is most strong isn't he?" Star questioned.

"**In actuality, the strength displayed appears to be due to a result of his Aerokinesis,"** Dr. Slim stated. **"An analysis of his combat style shows that he used close-ranged bursts of compressed air to increase the power of his strikes beyond that of his own power."**

"Aerokinesis? So then _that's _his power?" Raven wondered, having had suspicions of how the brunette did what he did.

"**Correct. It is also called Anemokinesis, Airbending, Aeromancy, Wind Manipulation, and Wind Control,"** Dr. Slim went on to explain. **"I could give you a long drawn-out explanation to how it works, but I believe a simplified explanation would be best. Ahem, Aerokinesis allows the user to physically direct air molecules, which can compose bursts of winds, spawn tornadoes, and even siphon the oxygen out of a person's lungs. Provided with enough control, Ventus could potentially generate breezes, squalls, gusts, whirlwinds, zephyrs, gales, tempests, and hurricanes. However, Aerokinesis is limited in that it does not work in the vacuum of space, cannot control the air temperature, and an oxygen-rich atmosphere must be present. Most well-known users of Aerokinesis are Red Tornado and Mr. Twister. Aside from those two, I possess no data on other Aerokinetics in my databanks."**

"So then Aerokinesis is rare among humans?" Raven asked, earning a confused look from Beast Boy. "Red Tornado and Mr. Twister are both mechanical beings using sophisticated equipment to control their powers through artificial means. I'm to assume that Aerokinesis is primarily _machine-exclusive_."

"**Quite. While the Justice League may wish to know about this, it would be a violation of his privacy to do so without his consent,"** Dr. Slim stated. **"However, I believe once he gains enough of a reputation, that he may draw the League's attention on his own."**

"Whoo! Best time!" the brunette whooped.

"**That is because this is your first try. Do you wish to continue?"**

"Aw hell yeah! I'm having _way _too much fun to stop!" he cheered excitedly.

"**Very well then. Maybe something more your **_**element **_**would suffice,"** Slim said, the floor panel the brunette was standing on lurching upward and launching him into the air, stabilizing a moment later as a half dozen wireframes began forming mid-air, revealing a group of blue-armored Pantheon Flyers. Behind them, a quarter dozen wireframes began forming in mid-air before revealing a trio of Pantheon Aces. **"For all intents and purposes, should you touch the ground the simulation will end. Think you can keep up?" **he asked, the ground suddenly opening up beneath him in a number of bottomless or '_death'_ pits.

"Keep up? I'll leave these flyboys in the _dust_!" Vent chuckled as he readjusted his goggles over his eyes, the Pantheon Flyers flying towards him and shooting their arm cannons, the firing rate similar to a machine gun's as the brunette started flying through the air, a thin contrail leaving his heels as he flew around the expansive DR, dodging shots with various flying maneuvers. "Do a barrel roll!" he laughed as he rolled to the side with a spinning shell of air round him.

"Hahahahahaha! Dude! I _love _Star Fox," the greenette chuckled.

"Look out! The Aces are right behind you!" Cy called out, earning odd looks from the others. "What? I've played Mega Man games before," he said with crossed arms, the four Pantheon Aces flying in a weaving formation and began firing coordinated laser fire at the brunette. However, he quickly front-flipped before shooting backwards around the laser fire, flying past the Aces before pointing his fingers at the two in the back of the formation, his hands jerking back a few times as he shot at their flight packs. While a few of the shots missed, he'd managed to ground the two, who's lightweight frames were crushed when they hit the ground. The next moment however, the half dozen Flyers quickly surrounded him and began firing, the teen letting himself drop out of the sky and avoid the shots before shooting off, prepping a pair of _'airbolts' _in his hands before he began chucking them, 2/3 hitting their targets and knocking three of the Flyers out of the sky. Before he could pat himself on the back however, one of the Ace's shots managed to jar his shoulder, the brunette nearly dropping out of the sky before he threw an airbolt at it, only for the Ace to swerve around the projectile and the other to start shooting at him. Quickly flying upwards, he saw the sky shimmer for a bit before he flipped upside down, his feet touching the sky and parting slightly to reveal the ceiling. Pushing off, he quickly rushed between a pair of Flyers and spun around, his fists glowing off-silver as he backhanded the two of them in the front and back of the head, knocking their heads clean off their bodies. Flipping overhead, he quickly grabbed the arms of the next Flyer as the remaining one rushed at him. The one in his hands began to fire its buster rapidly, trying to force him off, but the brunette capitalized on that as he threw the thing's arm around and made it shoot its comrade full of holes. Holding the volatile buster away from himself, he then raised his right fist before delivering an air-packed punch to its face, bashing clear through its optic before he let it drop, the remaining two Aces seemingly glaring at him from behind their visors.

"Alright tough guys, let's see whether or not you _deserve _the title Ace," he smirked, the two flying serpentine around one another as they rushed him, the brunette standing in mid-air before he air-dashed to the side right as they began firing their busters at him. Recounting, he realized he'd left a Flyer out, which was quickly flying towards him from the left, the Ace's shots coming at him from the right. Thinking quickly, he flipped over the Flyer's head and kicked it toward the Aces, its body shredded by the rounds before the brunette began spinning in mid-air, a tornado forming around him before he seemingly threw it towards the two. They quickly shot off to the sides, but were quickly sucked into the cyclone and sent careening into the wall hidden behind the hologram, their bodies shattering as the last of the holographic enemies had ended.

"**Very good. Have you done this before?"** Slim noted.

"Nah, just watched a few mid-air DBZ fights," he said rubbing the back of his head as he let himself fall, a bit wobbly on his feet before he righted himself after the ground had closed back up, despite that the bottomlees and 'death' pits were never there. "Got anymore? I figure I can do one more fight before I run out of steam. At least until I get something to eat I mean," he said scratching the back of his head.

"**Confident now, are we?"** Slim asked.**"Very well then. Here's your challenge,"** he said as a massive dust storm formed around him, several dozen glowing red eyes shining through the dust before it began to clear, revealing at least 100 Pantheon Hunters, each armed with a buster cannon on its right arm, the ones in the front taking aim so they wouldn't be shooting at themselves.

"Okay... That's a lot..." he said as the seven nearest to him began to fire at him, their energy bullets flying towards him before he held his hands out, off-silver air currents flying around him and forming a barrier of sorts as they began to deflect the shots. However, the teen began sweating as the strain of maintaining the barrier continued to increase. Improvising, he adjusted his feet before spinning around, his body becoming a blur as he shouted "Rotation!" an off-silver dome of wind rolling off of him and expanding, taking out the first ten Hunters before the attack ceased, Beast Boy's eyes widening in shock before he shouted-

"Dude! I didn't know we had a _Hyuuga _on our team!" the green teen said excitedly.

"A _what_?" Raven asked like as if he'd said the most retarded thing in the world. And the changeling has said some _pretty _retarded stuff up to that point.

"They're a ninja clan from the Naruto universe that uses the Juken, or Gentle Fist style, as well as several rotary-based defense techniques," BB explained in lecture mode, the whole thing going in one of Raven's ears and out the other. "Still, what a Hyuuga is doing in our world is beyond me."

"Do I _look _clear-eyed to you?" the brunette asked glaring at Beast Boy from below and pulling on one of his eyelids, pointing to the crimson orb within before he quickly dodged a shot from a Hunter.

"Then why'd you call out Neji's technique, huh?" he asked.

"For ease of control, what do you think?" Vent asked as he chucked a few airbolts at the Hunters, only for one to fill the place of each fallen comrade. "It's the same thing as Raven's mantra. Something for her to focus on to get better results."

"But-"

"Are we _seriously _having this conversation right now? Because I'm kinda BUSY!" he shouted as he threw a compressed air punch at one of the Hunters, only to find more and more surrounding him. "Okay, this is starting to get anNOYING!" he shouted as he started kicking out at the air, sending arcs of wind out and knocking the Hunters down in pairs, only to find that more kept coming. "Alright screw this! There's just too many to deal with right now!" he shouted as he threw his hands into the air, summoning a massive ball of off-silver energy twice his size before slamming it into the ground. "HRRAAAH!" he shouted as the sphere impacted, a massive shockwave spreading through the room and knocking the Hunters back, sending the brunette flying through the air, a massive cloud of dust rising before it settled, the brunette now flat on his back with sweat rolling down his face from exhaustion. "Alright... I'm done..." he panted as he looked up into the control room, the others gawking at his sudden display of power. _Hey... I can see up Star's skirt, _he chuckled to himself before closing his eyes. _I better warn her about that, as well as point out that design flaw to Dr. Slim, _he said to himself. _I never noticed before until _just _now, but Rae's got a nice set of legs, _he added, but quickly shook that thought off. For all he knew the girl could read his mind at any moment and find it in the gutter.

* * *

><p>At the same time up above in the control room, after Vent had laid himself flat on his back to catch his breath, things were mostly silent after what the group they just saw. A minute into the silence however, Beast Boy saw fit so speak up.<p>

"Dude... Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" the greenette asked turning to Cyborg.

"Aw _hell _yeah!" he said clenching his fist. "Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3!" he whooped as he pulled out the game case from who-knows-where, his grin pulled so wide it threatened to rip his face off.

"I was actually thinking Smash Bros. Brawl but THAT WORKS TOO!" Beast Boy returned with a grin, the two dancing around one another while Raven sighed, Starfire clapped in joy –even though she had no idea what was going on-, and Robin was shaking his head at the team's antics.

"Guys, if the Justice League caught wind using their very expensive equipment like this, they'd never take us seriously again," Robin groaned.

"And how do you know they don't use _their _Danger Rooms for the same thing?" Cy asked. "For all _we _know, the Flash could be using his to kick butt with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or something. Slim, you got any data on that?"

**"I am sorry, but all information pertaining to other existing Danger Rooms is privy to the Justice League,"** the AI nicknamed Slim stated intelligently.

"That's not the point! This is very expensive equipment and we have to use it seriously!" Robin growled. "The Justice League didn't give us this danger room to use it for _video games_!"

"I don't see what you're getting angry about. There isn't any recording equipment in here, so as long as we keep our mouths shut, no one will hear about this anyway," Raven huffed. It wasn't that she _approved _of it, but she wasn't necessarily against it because she simply didn't care.

"Good. Then we're all in agreement. What happens in this room _stays _in this room," Robin stated with crossed arms.

"That sounds like an innuendo," Ventus said from the Danger Room floor.

"Friend Robin, what is this innuendo of which friend Ventus speaks?" Starfire asked, Raven sighing while Robin paled, Beast Boy and Cyborg chuckling at the question the alien girl had just asked, and Slim's developing sense of humor could only chuckle in a cultured tone. At the moment Robin had plans forming in his mind to _dispose _of Ventus for getting him into this mess-

"Before I forget, who's going to be team leader?" the brunette asked, unintentionally saving Robin from having to answer a very sensitive question. "Personally I'm not really one for the leadership role, so I'll let the rest of you figure out who it should be. As for me..." he said lifting himself off the floor and heading for the elevator –of which there were two-, "I'm heading for the couch. Call me if you need me," he said as the elevator door closed behind him, taking him to the living room and leaving the others to decide just that.

For a moment the control room was silent aside from the gentle hum of computers, though it was mostly between Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy, with Raven and Starfire standing in the side wondering what the three of them were staring at one another so intensely for, and Slim's computer "body" making the typical noises that a computer would. Looking down to the game case in his hand, Robin immediately recognized what Cyborg was thinking.

"... No. We are _not _deciding who team leader is with a _video game_," the Boy Wonder stated adamently.

"And who made _you _team leader?" Cyborg asked, then noticed that the game case in his hand was gone. "Beast Boy!" he shouted as the greenette was now tiptoeing towards the elevator, the game case in one hand as his tongue hung out the side of his mouth in concentration.

"Eh heh..." was his response before he ran to the elevator and hit the call button, the left door opening a moment later where he then scrambled in and began pressing the close button rapidly. A moment later however, a half ton of metal and one-fifty pounds of ex-sidekick barreled through the open doors, leaving Raven to sigh and Starfire to wonder just what was going on.

"Friend Raven, friend Dr. Slim. What is this Capcom versus the Marvel 3?" the red-head asked curiously.

**"Ultimate Marvel versus Capcom three is-"**

"A stupid guy thing," Raven huffed, interrupting the AI from behind the cowl of her hood, really not wanting to hear a dragged out explanation. "Come on. Let's go stop them before they do something stupid," she said as she headed for the stairs, both sets of which were parallel to the elevator.

"Thank you for a most wonderful training session Dr. Slim," Star stated with a courteous bow.

"**You are quite welcome,"** the AI spoke. **"I wonder though, why does a **_**human **_**playing a video game from **_**inside**_** the video game hold such great appeal? Hmmm..."** the AI thought to himself as his adapting intellect thought the question over within its digital mind.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Mega Man Zero or anything belonging to Inti Creates. I do not own Naruto or anything belonging to Masashi Kishimoto. I do not own anything by Nintendo, Marvel, or Capcom. The Danger Room is aesthetically based upon the one from X-Men: Evolution.<strong>

**Author's Notes: Just another pre-Episode 1 chapter before getting to the main storyline. Thought I'd touch up on a few things since it's never outright stated in the series what the layout/floor plan of Titans Tower is. Also decided to add a somewhat realistic backstory for Titans Tower actually **_**getting **_**there, rather than it just **_**being **_**there on Episode 1.**

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	4. Stone and Plasma

To summarize the events of what happened after the Danger Room had been tested out, Raven would, _could _only, put it in a single word.

Idiotic.

Almost as soon as she and Starfire had gotten into the common area, Vent snoozing on the couch with a bit of drool hanging off the corner of his lip, Cyborg and Beast Boy were incessantly pounding at the controls for the XBOX 360 in an attempt to get it to load faster. When the starting screen came up, they began arguing just who would have to "fight" twice, only for the brunette to be _violently _roused from his slumber by all the yelling and tell the three guys the same thing he'd told everyone during the Gordanian invasion when they had all degenerated into childish bickering. Sans he and Raven of course.

"ALL OF YOU! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

After the three shut up in note of that outburst, Vent just grumbled out that _he'd _face Beast Boy, and that Robin would face Cyborg. When asked why he was suddenly so interested in becoming team leader, he said he wasn't, but that he was only doing this so he could get the three of them to shut up so he could take his nap. Throwing wind around so excessively like he did tended to make him tired, and when he was asked why, he simply shrugged his shoulders and said he couldn't find the right words at the moment, but that if they gave him some time he'd be able to later.

With that done, the four teens selected their teams of three, which served as the game's main principal. Robin had chosen exclusively Marvel characters, Beast Boy and Cy had chosen _both _Marvel and Capcom in different mixtures, while Vent had chosen Capcom characters exclusively. Star was fascinated by the plethora of characters available and wished to meet them post haste, only for Raven to tell her the ones on the screen were _fictional _characters. She herself was _never _one for video games, but _did _find herself intrigued by the red-skinned imp, the flaming skull-headed biker with the chain and the white-robed one with the pulled-back skull-like face.

At first glance, Robin's fighters were the most human-looking. His first fighter, Captain America, looked like Patriot Day had thrown up on him and the guy never bothered to shower afterwards. The next one was covered head to toe in black and red spandex called Deadpool, who was armed to the teeth with twin katana, grenades, guns, and who knows what else. Last in his roster was a feral-looking warrior by the name of Wolverine, covered in blue and yellow spandex with a pointed black mask, large metal claws extended from between his knuckles. Cyborg's on the other hand were by at least _some _aspect mechanical. The first one titled Sentinel was a _massive _blue and purple armored humanoid robot, whom Cy said was the biggest target in the game but was only a _slower _jack-of-all-trades. The next one named Iron Man held true to his title, covered head to toe in crimson and yellow segmented body armored that covered every inch of his body. The last fighter on his roster was less mechanical than the others, being a brown-haired girl by the name of Tron Bonne with her hair held back by a pink hairband, and was piloting a squat green-armored mechanical suit with orange fists which she piloted from the torso, of which had a silver skull emblem on the front.

For the mostpart Beast Boy's roster was humanoid, though the third made her wonder _just _what kind of games they played. His first fighter was a lithe and muscular superhero by the name of Spiderman in red and blue spidery spandex with large white eyes. The next one was a white-haired bounty hunter, going by the name of Dante, bare chested, wearing a red coat, and had a massive sword on his back. Lastly was a... she'd say "super deformed" man with red spandex with white gloves, boots, and a white pointed pauldron around his neck, his helmet red with a pointed silver **V **for the crest, and a pink scarf fading to white down his neck that was longer than he was, resembling the color of Cherry or Sakura Blossoms she'd read about in a Japanese book once. Vent's roster on the other hand didn't really _look _like they formed a cohesive unit, but looks could be deceiving. His first fighter was a white-furred wolf by the name of Amaterasu, a jade-colored mirror on _her _back as Vent explained, white wisp-like bits of smoke rolling off her joints with red tattoos across her body. The next one was a _reploid _and _Maverick Hunter _as Vent explained by the name of Zero, covered head to toe in red and white armor with gold and green ornamentations, a green-bladed energy sword in his hand, and long blond hair held back in a ponytail. The last one was a stereotypical martial artist and was the most human-shaped out of the en_tire _lot, well-muscled and garbed in a white gi and pants with the sleeves removed, a red headband with flowing sashes around his head and likely-colored padded guards on his hands.

With the rosters decided, the four paired off and started metaphorically beating the snot out of one another, Raven watching disinterestedly, if only for the entertainment value, while Starfire could hardly contain herself at seeing the "Ultimate Capcom vs the Marvel" characters fight "within the screen of silver", which of course meant the TV only in a different context.

To say that Cy beat Robin would be an understatement. He _owned _the spiky-haired teen green spandex-covered ass, whooping all of his characters one after another with a brutal series of air combos, courtesy of Sentinel, a few Hyper Moves thrown in when they weren't even necessary. Mind you, Robin put up a good fight; while Captain America was defeated relatively quickly, Deadpool was able to whittle the robot's "Life Meter" down to half, Wolverine being defeated just before the Sentinel fell. With the Boy Wonder soundly defeated, BB and Vent hopped into the center seats for their match.

Beast Boy and Ventus' match wasn't on the same caliber as Cy and Rob's was, but clearly there was a difference in the skill level between the first and second matches. While Beast Boy used what was apparently a complex series of ground and aerial combos between Spider Man, Dante, and Viewtiful Joe, Vent appeared to be doing nothing more than randomly pushing buttons in an uninterested manner and hoping for the best, throwing in Hyper Moves every once in a while to _some _effect. The two exchanged bouts of fists, feet, and their characters 'lives', but at the end Beast Boy narrowly lost to Vent, who's Ryu had barely beaten his Viewtiful Joe with a Shoryuken that had just _barely _clipped him in the chin.

As Beast Boy sulked away, sighing at not getting to be able to lead the Teen Titans, Cy plopped himself down next to Vent with a wide grin on his face.

"Hope you're ready to _lose, _novice," the teen chuckled as their screen loaded up, all of the matches haven taken place in the Danger Room level, further cementing the theory that whoever had made the Justice League's Danger Rooms had probably based it off the Marvel iteration of the concept.

"Just shut up and fight," Ventus sighed with half-lidded eyes. When Vent and Cyborg's match started however, Robin saw that the brunette's eyes suddenly snapped open and grew very cold. Not out of fear for the metaphorical beating of his wolf, robot, and martial artists, but out of a level of seriousness he'd only seen out of his former master, Batman, and honestly never expected to see from anyone else.

Cy was confident at first, thinking his Sentinel could beat the white-furred "Ammy" relatively easily, and then proceed onto the others as he had done before with Robin. However the fictional _goddess _seemed to put of much more of a fight than in the previous match, swapping between a disk-like mirror weapon, magatama beads, and sword in the heated midst of a series of ground and aerial combos, the two sides exchanging forces until Ventus activated two of Okami's _Hyper Moves. _The first was the Okami Shuffle, where the kanji for fire, ice, and thunder appeared on the screen as a firestorm, blizzard, and thunderstorm buffeted the Sentinel bringing its HP down to a quarter, then activating her _second _Hyper Move, the Veil of Mist, which released a transparent violet-colored vapor that caused the Sentinel to act like it was in slow motion, Cyborg crying out when the giant robot was soundly defeated when Okami rode her sword like a flying surfboard. When Iron Man stepped up, he was able to dispatch Amaterasu after a few well-placed combos, the Maverick Hunter Zero stepping into the field next. However, Vent then proved he was just as capable of Cyborg in aerial combos, the reploid's energy sword slashing Iron Man to pieces before he activated the blond-haired warrior's second Hyper Move, Sougenmu, which created a black-and-white copy of Zero behind himself, the copy following the original's moves and knocking Iron Man out of the fight soonafter. When Cy's next character leapt out onto the field, even though he had over half HP left, Zero tagged Ryu into the fight, who then began facing the mech pilot. To Cy's surprise as the two continued to fight, when Vent called forth Zero's _Assist Moves, _Zero was _still _using the Sougenmu, the twin reploids delivering double combos before Tron was finally able to defeat Ryu, even after taking a hit from his Level 2 Hyper Move, a spinning hurricane-esque kicking move titled Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. However, when Zero stepped back onto the field, the brunette tapped into the last reserves of his _Hyper Meter_, performing Zero's first Hyper Move, Rekkouha, where Zero punched the ground causing pillars of multi-colored energy striking Tron before her mech broke down, Ventus declared the winner much to Cy's distress. As though to add insult to injury, at the end of the fight Zero remarked, _**"You thought you were better then mwah?"**_

Of course after the "epic battle", Ventus then passed the leadership role onto Robin, saying he was too sleepy to deal with it before collapsing onto the couch, asleep not even a moment later, leaving the cyborg of the group to sulk at his defeat. He seemed so... novice-level against BB, but during _their _fight it was like he became an entirely different person. When asked just _how _he did that, Vent's reply was-

"Quiet I'm sleepy. _*SNOOOORE*_" he snored out before Star threw a blanket over his shoulders and tucked him in, whispering a congratulations on "his most glorious battle" before floating of, leaving the mentally and physically exhausted teen to his slumber. Raven simply sighed at how seriously the others were taking a _video game_, but thanked the brunette for being able to read her book in peace without having to sacrifice the view of the bay. With eyebrows raised, Robin regained order by saying that despite the match's outcome, that he would've still been leader regardless, unless the team split up into groups, and even then it would be up to the groups individually to decide who would lead. Hopefully they'd be able to work together and _around _the concept of leader by that point.

* * *

><p>The next evening at the high-security prison a few miles beyond the wastes of Jump City's south sector, the sirens had been blaring for a few minutes, the doors in the main courtyard kicked in, a massive hulking... thing, made out of concrete began lumbering toward the doors of the central building. Blocky, yet somehow flexible enough for articulated movement, the thing was shaped similarly to Dr. Slim's Fighting Polygon program, but with smoother lines and such. As it trudged forward, a few of the white-armored Jump SWAT team entered before firing on the stone-borne monster, their laser rifles designed to incapacitate escaping prisoners doing no good apart from bouncing off the thing's back. Turning around to growl at them, the thing then stomped its left foot down, the seismic waves causing slabs of concrete to rise up and cover its advances into the prison, leaving the SWAT team behind. When it made its way into the prison, the thing looked around with red angled eyes, as though it were looking for something in particular. However before it could get too far, a voice from above cut its train of thought short.<p>

"You know Cinderblock, normally the bad guys break _out _of jail," BB's scathing remark sounded through the quiet prison hall.

"And I can think of _six _good reasons why you don't want to break in," Robin said before dropping down into a crouch in front of it. "One!"

"Two!" Star said dropping to his right.

"_**Rrrr! **_Three!" Beast Boy said after changing from a tiger, dropping beside Starfire.

"Four," Raven said appearing at down Robin's left side.

"Five!" Cy said dropping next to the spiky-haired teen.

"Six!" Ventus said dropping down behind Robin and Cyborg as he adjusted his goggles, forming a vanguard formation in front of the stone-hewn creature.

"No matter _how _you do the math, it all adds up to you going down. So, are you going to go quietly...?"

"Or is _this _going to get _loud_?" Cy asked finishing Robin's sentence.

"**RRRRAAAAAH!"** Cinderblock roared as it began running at them, the ground thundering with each step, the Titans splitting with Robin's cry of- "Titans go!" -he and Cy running while Star, Rae, Vent, and Beast Boy who had taken the form of a crow flew towards their massive opponent. Nothing was known about him other than the fact that he was like that for as long as anyone currently living in Jump could remember. The monster dubbed Cinderblock had mostly performed acts of random violence and mayhem in the past, but nothing this complex in the past. All this aside, the Teen Titans rushed him like any other criminal, ready for their first "super villain" battle, or "Boss Fight" as Vent had put it on the way there.

Robin started first, leaping into a kung fu kick that spun Cinderblock around, a crack on the left side of its head before Star blasted it with dual 'starbeams', concentrated beams of neon green solar radiation-born energy, impacted its back. For a moment the creature was stunned by the force of the attack, Cy taking charge and rushing at the thing with his right fist, only to meet him in equal strength with his left, the thing being forced back moments later. As it rushed at Raven, Beast Boy began picking at Cinderblock's stone hide with his claws only to get no effect before the cloaked mage threw her hands up, a slab of concrete raising from the ground, which Cinderblock knocked through in a tackle just as the girl floated upwards. However right on the other side of the dust, the brown-haired teen suddenly appearing and delivered a powerful wind-packed palm strike to the thing's nose, causing it to stumble back slightly without causing any real or lasting damage. As Rae and Vent flew off, Rob, Cy, and Star rushed at Cinderblock, the two prior getting knocked away before Star threw a couple starbolts at Cinderblock, only for the creature to stumble back a bit before it grabbed her.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am _stronger _than I look," Star said with eyes glowing green, her right foot delivering a powerful kick to the thing's chest and sending him flying back, landing against one of the walls before Vent dove down at it feet-first, his sandaled feet impacting the thing's nose once again with a wind-packed foot stomp, only for a slight crack to form on its nose. At that moment Beast Boy dropped down before transforming into a massive black-striped T-Rex, stomping towards Cinderblock only to get decked by a left-handed swing, being sent flying back through the air. As Raven began her chanting, she looked up to see the giant T-Rex change back to Beast Boy, the brunette flying interception and catching him, giving the girl a thumbs up before she finished her chant, several slabs of concrete rising up from the ground and sent flying towards Cinderblock, only for the thing to shake the foot-thick slabs as though they were made of styrofoam. About to walk off like the Titans were no more than an annoyance, Robin suddenly dropped down onto his back and tried to wrap his arms around the thing's neck, only that it didn't _have _a neck which left him grabbing the crevices of its face as it tried to shake him loose. Had it been any smarter, it would've probably leapt backwards into a wall and _killed _the boy wonder.

"Thrashing only makes me hold _tighter_!" Robin taunted even as the thing tore a large girder from the wall, intent on using it like a club. The next moment like in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, the thing sung the girder over its head to hit Robin, only for the column of steel to bend around its cement skull.

"Now _there's _an idea. Hrrah!" Cy said pulling out a girder from the wall as well and holding it like a large sledgehammer, the two clashing weapons causing the air to flash white. Despite being a few heads taller than Cy, he proved to be on equal strength with the thing as they two continued to clash, Vent recording this with a camcorder he'd procured so Slim could make a Cinderblock simulation for later, since two-dimensional pictures only held so much info, and with Cy in the frame he could get a good scale shot as well. Coming to a standstill, Cinderblock pushed Cy back before it suddenly used the cement-tipped end of the girder to send him flying across the ground, sparks arcing off his body as he scraped across the ground. About to turn away, the thing then felt the equivalent to gnat bites on its face, turning towards the brunette who had then put his camera away in favor of pelting the thing with airbolts to the face, only for it to be like pebbles against the side of an armored truck.

"C'mon you big palooka! Why don't you try picking on someone a _sixth _of your size?" Vent asked as he continued chucking the off-silver balls of wind energy at its face, the thing raising its girder only for it to flash red before melting in a flash of green, Star giggling at the long-distance use of her powers to make the threatening weapon completely useless. Snarling, the thing then ran back at slightly-impressive speed given the thing's size and mass, ignoring the Titans in favor of something _deeper _in the prison's main building.

"Wanna give this guy the Sonic Boom?" Robin asked as he helped the metal teen up.

"I've got the Sonic if you've got the Boom," Cy said transforming his right arm into a cannon, finding it easier to aim than his left. "Yo rock head!" he then cried as he and the other Titans rushed into the tunnel, the thing looking over its shoulder to see Robin and Cy running along the opposite walls of the tunnel before running on the ceiling, passing by one another with the intent of using a powerful combo move on it, only for their ankles to catch and their attack fail catastrophically. When he hit the ground, Cy's sonic cannon went off on Star and BB, though the unfocused blast caused no real damage other than a bad hair day and a case of ringing ears. When Robin hit the ground, the freezing disk he'd intended to use on Cinderblock slid out of his hand and over to Raven and Vent's feet, the latter pulling the prior into his arms and shielding her body from the blast, preventing the both of them from being covered in ice.

As this was happening, Cinderblock continued to tear down the prison block, smashing walls in and giving criminals of varying degree a "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Seeing their chance at freedom and unwilling to wait out their sentences, the orange-clad prisoners ran down the main hall to the open chamber in the center of the East Wing in order to make good their escape, right around the same time the others were getting back their bearings from the botched combo, Vent shaking the ice off his back and letting Raven go while Beast Boy and Starfire shook the ringing sound from their ears, the _sources _of the screwup getting to their feet as the orange-clad convicts ran down the hallway.

"Here, let me take care of those guys," Vent said giving a two-fingered salute as he shook the last bit of ice from his body before turning toward the escaping prisoners, assuming a sideways stance as he held his hands to the side. "Kaaa... Meee... Haaa... Meee..." he intoned as wind began gathering into his cupped hands in the form of a sphre, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin gaping before the- "HAAAAA!" Vent roared as he thrust his arms forward, a concentrated ball of blue energy being sent forward and mowing all the prisoners down, knocking them flat on their backs and unconscious. "Aw man, I wanted to do _Goku's _attack, but instead all I got was Ryu's Hadoken," Vent pouted crying anime tears. "Not that I'm complaining about the results, but crud. I was so hyped up too," he groaned seeing the prisoners he'd mowed down.

"Dude, I'd be happy with just _that_!" Cyborg said in awe. Even if Vent's move was a cheap imitation, it was still cool.

"You... little brat..." one of the prisoners growled as he ran at Vent from behind, only for-

"Shoryuken!" Vent cried as he knocked the guy into the air in a flying wind-powered uppercut to the chin, sending him flying into the ceiling before landing on the floor in a crumbled heap.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy said before running up to the brunette with stars in his eyes. "That was so awesome!"

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, after the outside courtyard had been cleared, the prison's security began holing the prisoners back into their destroyed cells, a few on guard before the walls could be replaced. While the prisoners <em>could <em>try to escape, the reason they were even allowed _back _into their wrecked cells was because the prison warden thought it'd be funny to let the guards take pot shots at whoever tried to make a break for it. It was only funny until someone got hurt, and when someone _did _get hurt, it was _hi_larious.

"Jailbreak? I don't see any jailbreak," Beast Boy said picking out his ears.

"_None _of us would've seen one if Cyborg hadn't messed up," Robin pouted with crossed arms.

"Me? I messed up nothing. _You_ got in my way!" Cy argued back.

"_You _were too far forward, and Cinderblock got away because of it!"

"You sayin' this is _my _fault?" Cy demanded.

"Want me to say it again?" Rob asked.

"Stop, no more mean-talking," Star pleaded, having become the official _peacekeeper _for the Teen Titans. With her super-strength and near invulnerability to practically _everything_, she was the best-built person for the job, especially since she was built like an armored truck mixed with... something really sleek and feminine.

"Yeah, if you two're going to fight, we need time to sell tickets," Beast Boy chuckled jokingly.

"Cinderblock escaped. No amount of yelling will change that, so stop acting like _idiots_, and lets go home," Raven stated throwing her hood back, while the brunette used the same camcorder from before, thinking of starting up a _reality _series based on the go-abouts of the Teen Titans. Either that or blackmail. You could never have too much blackmail. The brunette could only grin a bit when Rob and Cy snorted like two bulls before going in totally opposite directions.

"Loser."

"Jerk."

"What did you say?" the two suddenly demanded a few seconds later, having _just _heard the other's comments, while the brunette chuckled, _"Reality TV. I bring you Season 1 of Life with the Titans. Yeah... That works. That works."_

"You have a problem, tin man?" Robin asked.

"Yeah! It's four feet tall and smells like cheap hair gel!" Cy returned, getting a rise out of the boy.

"Well _you're _an over-sized clutz and your feet smell like motor oil!"

"You're bossy, you're _rude_, you got _no _taste in music...!"

"... I don't even know why you're _on _this team," Robin growled.

"That makes two of us. I QUIT!" the armored teen then shouted, everyone growing deathly quiet while Vent wondered why he heard a film reel spinning out in the background. However, after realizing what was happening, he quickly stuffed the camcorder into his sling bag before running at Cyborg and grabbing his ankle like a child.

"Cy! Please don't go! I'll show you the Hadouken again! Shoryuken? Ryuenjin? Let you win in Marvel vs Capcom?" he asked as the teen left his line of sight, but then flinched at probably bringing up a sore subject. Not _one _day past the Danger Room demo and he'd already screwed things up, despite it being mostly _Robin's _fault.

"While your efforts are commendable, he's made up his mind. We can't change that," Raven said putting a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Maybe... Doesn't mean I have to like it," the brunette huffed blowing a loch of hair out of his eye, getting to his feet before following the others. They didn't have a dedicated mode of transportation yet, so the group just flew together until then.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Beast Boy had tried several times for several minutes apiece to call Cyborg and get him to come back. The guy wouldn't answer, and like BB said in one of his calls, he couldn't <em>not <em>answer because the phone was _literally _built into his arm. Off to the side, Starfire was concocting... something chunky and grayish-colored. While Vent had been flying in circles around the tower, trying to collect his thoughts on Cy leaving, he had looked over his shoulder as he passed the common area to try and figure out what she was making. Despite all this however, he had no idea what it was, even after the Tamaranian folklore he'd been able to garner from her, but her actions at the end of her mixing process had signaled that she was finished, right around the same time that Beast Boy's attempt at calling him had ended.

"Taste," Star said suddenly forcing a spoonful of the concoction into BB's mouth, the green-skinned teen suddenly retching in all manner, Starfire giggling before he upchucked it into the carpet, dragging his gloved hands down his hanging tongue to get the offending taste off.

"What _is _that? Cream of _toe_nails?" Beast Boy asked with tears in the corners of his eyes as he rubbed his throat.

"Pudding of Sadness. It is what the people of my planet eat when bad things happen," she said taking a spoonful. Now, Star had been known to stomach things that guys without Cy's cast iron stomach couldn't, but had Vent been there to see, currently flying around the back of the tower, he would've been completely shocked to see the alien girl cringe and wretch horribly before swallowing the Pudding of Sadness, completely flipping out but holding it in before she stomached the slop before she shook her head to get the taste off her mind. "Try. The displeasing taste will ease your troubled mind," she then said to Raven, who at the moment was typing a few buttons on the wall consoles on the left side of the room.

"My mind is _never _troubled. People come, people go. It's _point_less to be upset about Cyborg," she stated, her hair suddenly whirling around in a clockwise motion like a Spiritomb's aura before all the screens to her left cracked, her hair returning to normal at that very moment. "What?" she asked evenly, apparently not concerned with her lapse of control or even _noticing _it. At the same time, Robin looked out to the city, Jump's south sector, the bridge, and the far side of the north sector within his line of sight as he thought about everything going on. Most prevalently was his and Cy's argument, and how he'd pushed the teen to leave the team.

"Here Robin. You must need this most of all since... well..." Star trailed off as she flew up to him, bowl of Pudding of Sadness in her hands.

"I'm fine," Robin sighed as he walked off. "Who knows. Maybe we're better off without him." After Robin walked away, Star looked out the window and saw Vent flying around the tower half-heartedly, hardly maintaining altitude, while his flying itself was quite choppy. Opening the window, she then flew out and tapped her "buddy of flying" on the shoulder, getting his attention from his moping.

"Here, friend Ventus. You must be needing this as well," she said offering the off-gray-colored slop to him.

"Oh. Sure. What is it?" he asked taking a spoonful not really thinking clearly at the moment, the horrible taste prevalent by the face he was making.

"On my planet, we call it the Pudding of Sadness," Starfire explained and went _on _to explain, even as Vent retched behind her trying to force it down, only for his eyes to spin in his skull before he fell out of the sky with his tongue hanging out of his mouth like a bird that had just died mid-flight of a heart attack or an aneurysm.

* * *

><p>For the rest of the day <em>-Vent getting over nearly dieing as a result of the "Pudding from Hell"-,<em> the group tried to get used to the fact that Cy was no longer there. The person who had to bear the worst of the brunt however was Robin, being constantly reminded of the teen he once called friend, and how he'd just cast him aside because of _one _little mistake. God knew that if he'd been kicked out every time he made a mistake under the Dark Knight's tutelage, he would've hung up his cape long ago. After visiting the larger teen's room, looking at a picture of the two of them where his right hand was on his head and the other was giving a peace sign, the spiky-haired teen then hung his head, apologizing. However, he was soon snapped out of his moping when the tower alarm suddenly went off. Running into the command center, he came to the sight of a holographic screen at the front of the room, currently displaying a topographical view of the city's industrial district between the west and south sectors.

"Cinderblock strikes again?" Robin asked.

"You wish," Beast Boy returned, not really having _any _idea... what it was that he saw from the chemical plant's security feed.

Arriving at said factory minutes later, they were greeted by the loud hisses, grunts, and whines of heavy machinery, all array of chemicals being mixed together to make who-knows-what. The chemicals were varying shades of green and yellow, but it didn't take a genius to know that the stuff _wasn't _good for your skin. The sight that greeted them however was one of the more disgusting ones. Sitting at the end of an assembly line, a massive humanoid burgundy creature made of a gooey substance was sitting at the end of the assembly line, downing entire barrels of chemicals, growing larger with each downed "shot". The thing had been anywhere from 10 to 15 feet tall, but now it was closer to 20 bordering 25. Before the thing could down another shot however, Starfire had launched a _starbeam_ into the drum of chemicals, the thing putting it up to his face like a makeshift telescope as it searched for the one who interrupted its meal, displaying its ability to perform acts of coherent thought. After a few seconds, its eyes landed on the sight of five teenagers standing at the very same hole it had used to break into the chemical plant.

"That stuff _can't _be good for ya," Robin said from the hole in the wall. Chucking the blown drum over its shoulder, the thing belched before launching pieces of itself out of its chest, burgundy-colored muck flying through the air, causing everyone to scatter before they got hit. "Star! Let him have it!" the Boy Wonder called out to his teammate after dodging a few splashes of whatever-the-hell-that-was.

"_*Gasp* _Did I let him have too much?" she gasped after her starbolt had left a yard-wide hole through its chest cavity, Vent taking note that whatever the thing was made of, was extremely malleable.

"I'm thinking not _enough_," Beast Boy noted as the thing inhaled deeply, the hole in its chest filling itself in before it threw a left punch, its arm stretching towards Starfire only for Raven to pull the girl out of the way.

"Maybe he just needs to _chill_," Robin said pulling a similar blue-colored disk as before out of his belt and let it fly, impacting the thing's arm and almost immediately converting all the water up to its shoulder into ice. Growling, the thing could only let loose a sick combination of gurgle and cry as it smashed the frozen limb onto a pipe, smashing it into ice shards. Robin and Beast Boy took off, Starfire pelting the ground around it with Starbolts trying to herd it back, Beast Boy coming in and lashing out with a series of kicks from his Pterasour form to its remaining arm, all of which were blocked before it threw the remainder of its left arm forward, launching a torrent of slime at the two flyers who quickly dodged out of the way. Star began blasting the tendrils of muck out of the air with explosive results, Beast Boy dodging while Raven floated in the air and chanted- "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" –Eight sealed barrels of chemicals rising into the air with a black aura before they all flipped forward, flying through the air like lead slugs before impacting the thing's chest heavily, only for the thing to send them back towards her, the brunette throwing his arms forward creating a wind shield causing the casks to disperse. At that time, Robin flew in and kicked the thing with his left leg, then his right, both getting stuck before he dumbly punched it, only for that to get stuck too. "Rrr! Rrrh! Ah! Let me go you giant zit!" the Boy Wonder ordered from his perch in the thing's chest cavity, the beast staring down at him, the thing letting a gargled squeal escape its lips before it released a cascade of burgundy muck from its chest, sending the Boy Wonder flying in a parabolic arc before it took out Beast Boy too.

"Robin!" Star cried as she ran to his side.

"Don't worry. I'm okay. Sort of," he said as the sludge sloughed off his hair, spitting some out with distaste evident.

"And I thought Star's _pudding _tasted bad," Beast Boy retched spitting some out.

"Alright you giant grease stain! Let's see how you like _this_!" Vent shouted as he flew at Plasmus before stopping right at its chest. "Shin Sho!" he shouted as he delivered a wind-packed punch to its chest with his right fist causing it to stagger. "Ryu!" he said as he delivered a wind-packed uppercut to its chin, causing its eyes to widen. "KEN!" he said following through on Ryu's Shin Shoryuken rolling his shoulder, sending the monster's head snapping back, only for it to recover within moments. "Oh come on! That was a Level 3 Hyper Move and _everything_!" he groaned moving out of its immediate range.

"You've been playing _way_ too many video games," Raven remarked dully, figuring he _had _to to beat Cyborg, whom she just _figured _played a lot of video games.

"But it's where I get my best moves," Vent whined even as the thing approached him. "It's _hard _to be original when all the cool moves are already taken," he pouted with crossed arms. At his childish expression Raven could only smile, but when a machine behind her blew up she quickly squashed that emotion. A few seconds later however the creature had suddenly launched a gout of... itself, at Vent, which sent him tumbling across the ground until he came to a stop. "Man, good think I kept my yap shut," he said scooping all the freaky gunk out of his hair and away from his goggles, which he was glad to have on too.

* * *

><p>A few minutes into the fighting later...<p>

"Eyuch. I feel like the underside of a Zornian Muckbeetle," Star stated as she and Raven were knocked out of the air by the slime creature.

"Tell me about it," Raven grumbled.

"Dude! I am not on the menu! Huaaaah!" Beast Boy cried as the thing chased after him, Robin's grappling hook then wrapping around its legs and somehow not passing through as he began wrapping his body up.

"Maybe the best way to take you down... is to tie you _up_!" Robin grunted as Beast Boy then transformed into a rhino, Ventus riding on his back and preparing a charged wind blast in his hands before the changeling impacted, knocking the thing flat onto its back at around the same time Vent released his charge shot, Starfire and Raven then using their own respective powers to bend some of the heavy lifting equipment across its body and pin it to the ground.

"We did it!" Star whooped.

"Nice work team," Robin remarked.

"Yeah, didn't think we'd pull it off without-" was as far as BB got before Rae elbowed him and Vent smacked him over the head.

"We've finished just in time. Cinderblock's been spotted downtown," Robin said having gotten an update. "Come on!" he said leading the others out, BB and Vent following before a weird gurgling sound caused them to turn around, the creature's body slowly collapsing onto itself before it suddenly divided into five constructs. One was its head with four insectoid legs supporting it, another was a four-legged beetle thing with a pincer-like maw, another was a bulbous octopus-like monster with no face, the fourth was a six-legged thing with a featureless maw resembling a mutated Pac Man, and the fifth looked just like a featureless snake.

"Uhhh... Guys... I _don't _think we're done here," Vent remarked as the five constructs started scuttling towards them, all of them releasing gurgled clicking noises as their little feet clattered against the floor. Quickly bolting into the next room, the group then slammed the double door shut behind them, Rob and Rae taking the left door while BB, Vent, and Star held the right door shut. The things pounded incessantly against the door, the five teens barely holding it closed as they tried to regroup.

"Five against five. I guess it's a good thing _Vent's _here, huh?" Beast Boy chuckled, though a bit worriedly as he tried to hold the door back. At the same time, Vent just wondered why he hadn't transformed into something _heavier _and held the door shut, since he was shorter than even _Robin, _but figured the changeling didn't want a _backseat driver _lecturing him on just _how _to use _his _powers.

"Ahhh! It's the violating _tentacle_ monsters with the violating _tentacles_!" Vent cried as a pair of tentacles wriggled their way through the doorway when it had been forced open a crack.

"The _what_ monsters?" Raven asked incredulously, worried with the tone the brunette was using since while he was probably a little loopy, even moreso than Beast Boy who talked non-stop about _tofu _at meal time, he was still very perceptive about the world around him. Even when he didn't act like it.

"Trust me, the title's self-explanatory," Vent said trying to keep the door shut. "Gyah! It touched me!" he cried when it grazed his shoulder, causing him to leap away from the door, whirl around, and fire a point-blank airbolt at the door, scattering bits of the thing's tentacle againt the door before they began slithering back through the crack in the door. "Okay that is _too _freaky," he shuddered before the door was suddenly forced open further, the thing's face revealed before Robin shouted- "Titans, separate!" –The Teen Titans scattering across the factory, each muck construct selecting a teen to chase as they ran to different parts of the factory.

Star had taken off in one direction with the snake-like construct following her, chucking starbolts at it only for the thing to dodge around them and constrict itself around her. Beast Boy, now transformed into a cheetah, was sprinting as the six-legged beetle-like construct gurgled behind him, its stocky legs somehow keeping up with the fastest land animal on record. The next moment however it had launched a long tongue out at Beast Boy, wrapping around his waist and pulling him toward himself before he transformed into a gorilla and broke free, ready to fight only for the thing to tackle him to the ground and ruin the buildup. At around the same time, the "violating tentacle monster with the violating tentacles" as Ventus had been so _kind _to put it scuttled across the floor behind Raven. Focusing intently on the world around her, the mage quickly made the screws holding the equipment to their mountings _un_screw themselves, seemingly random pieces of equipment falling into the aisle and attempting to squash the creature only for it to instinctually dodge around them, a single tiny green eye being the only thing to show how it was able to see. In her confidence however, the thing had been able to slip around her and capture her, leaving Robin to face the four-legged construct on his own as he ran down a corridor towards the chemical storage area where the massive vats of volatile chemicals were kept.

At the moment, only _Ventus _appeared to be handling the head-like construct that came after him with any real semblance of efficiency, and even then it may've been because it was probably the slowest out of the lot, or because it was simply toying with him. Snatching a discarded pipe mid-flight and wielding it crudely like a sword, he began gathering a massive amount of wind energy into it while chucking air bolts at it with his free hand to keep it from going perfectly straight. A few minutes later after forming an inch-thick shell of off-silver energy around it, he quickly pushed off the air and went past it so he was behind it. He then pivoted in the air and launching a huge, supersonic air wave from his makeshift saber with a powerful shout of- "Ittou Ryoudan: Genmurei!" –splitting the thing down the middle and causing its halves to fall to the ground, only to pull itself back together a moment later.

"Aw man... Why couldn't that have worked?" he asked himself worriedly as the four other constructs regrouped around the apparent leader, the five of them staring him down, whereas the others nowhere in sight. "I hope _Robin's _having a better time of this than I am," he said to himself as he started backing away, then looked over his shoulder when loud footsteps came from the hallway. Readying himself for another construct, his body eased when he saw that Robin and Cyborg had gotten back together, which he was thankful for _-taking the time to notice the beetle-like construct wasn't following, meaning it was either dead or contained-_, the prior readying his freezing disk while the latter readied his sonic cannon.

"Teen Titans Go!" the two shouted as Robin threw his disk forward with Cy blasting it from behind, the disk's freezing properties carried on the compressed airwaves and practically vaporizing the slimey constructs, Vent falling onto his ass as a wall of smoke rose from the attack. When it had cleared, he was thankful that the others had only been constricted within the slime creatures bodies, as opposed to being broken down and converted into nutrients like would be the norm in a SciFi movie. However, what caught his attention was the prone human form lying where the head-like construct used to be, a lanky atrophied male teen in a black speedo snoring away as though he could sleep through a hurricane, which... he sorta just did. Given the circumstances, it was most likely that _he _was where the slime creature came from, as opposed to him being a plant worker since nearly everything was automated.

"Alright, I have to admit, I haven't seen _that _in a video game before," Vent noted, slightly winded from the effort of performing that last move. "Good to have you back Cy."

"Good to be back, little man," he nodded.

"I'm taller than one half the team," he huffed. "No offense," he directed to Raven, who shrugged indiferently while Rob and BB sulked at being indirectly called short.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, the special division of Jump's science and police squads arrived at the chemical plant, applying a solvent to dissolve the majority of <em>Plasmus' <em>body from the team's clothing, while collecting samples from the sample for future study, hopefully to someday find the atrophied teen a cure, who could only remain human while asleep. After being hauled off in a new, sound-proof glass cylinder with metal casings ends, Robin and Cy stood off to the side, not really saying anything before the shorter of the two spoke up.

"Look, uh... Sorry about..."

"Yeah."

"So... Are we cool?" Robin asked, awaiting a response.

"Frosty," Cy returned as the two bumped knuckles.

"You made up! Glorious!" Starfire cheered happily. "I wish to initiate a group hug," she then said lacing her fingers together.

"... Pass," Raven sighed, causing the orange-skinned girl to deflate slightly.

"Yeah yeah yeah, warm fuzzies all around. But we still gotta stop Cinderblock," the green teen reminded.

"No we don't," Cy returned, confusing the others. "Thought I'd bring a present, in case you were still mad," he said motioning over his shoulder, Cinderblock being lifted by a crane, and bound by what looked like his own laser cannon, seemingly built _especially _for the giant to use. As it grunted against its restraints, Vent took the time to wonder why it was brought _here _if he was spotted downtown, but quickly shrugged it off as one of those things he didn't need to question.

"Thanks. But there _is _still one thing that's bothering me," Robin said, causing the others to pale thinking he was going to start another fight. "Breaking into jail, using Plasmus to distract us. The whole plan seems a little too smart for Cinderblock."

"I've been thinking the same thing," Cy returned, Star and BB sighing now that the immediate danger had been averted.

"Someone must've been pulling the strings, but who?" Rob wondered with his hand on his chin.

"Well whoever they are, they're no match for the Teen Titans," Cy returned while raising his hand.

"I hear that," Robin said returning the high five, Vent off to the side with his own thinking cap on, but soon shrugged it off before he rejoined the group.

"Hey c'mon guys. Enough of the doom and gloom. Let's head back to the tower, see if Star can make some Pudding of _Happiness _to celebrate," Vent suggested. While a group hug with the exotic Starfire and the curvaceous Raven included sounded appealing, the prior's super strength and the latter's temperament would be a damper on his day if either of them broke anything. Their own reasons or powers regardless.

"_*Gasp* _That is a most _wonderful_ idea!" Star squealed happily. "Come! Let us prepare in celebration for friend Cyborg's return!" she cheered as she grabbed the teen by the arm and took off, leaving the other four confused at how the serious situation had just been cut in half like a hit knife through butter.

* * *

><p>At the same time miles away from Jump, in a darkened room with only the occasional spotlight to illuminate the darkness, a man hidden in the shadows slammed his fist onto his desk, the cup of tea and saucer below it shattering under the force without even being hit, the shadowed man <em>clearly <em>angry about the developments in his plans. His outfit consisted of a grey jumpsuit with a black short-sleeved shirt over it, black gloves, tights, and boots over the grey jumpsuit he wore over a well-muscled frame. Around his neck and on his shoulders, forearms, and shins he wore grey armor, a similar pauldron around his waist. What was most intimidating about him however was that his mask, black on the right side and orange on the left, only had one eye, with four slats where his mouth would be. After the sudden fit of rage, an aged butler with balding grey hair in a white suit, tie, and gloves, with a black shirt and pocket square, seemingly used to his master's bouts of sheer fury, plainly brushed the pieces of china into a dust pan and walked away, leaving his master to his own devices.

"Next time my plans _will _succeed," the dual-color-costumed man spoke with a narrowed eye, his butler then replacing the cup with another one as though he _knew _his master would be needing a replacement. "And the Titans, will pay," he said as his only visible eye narrowed.

* * *

><p>An hour or so later back at the tower after the team had eaten a couple bowls of Star's Pudding of Happiness, which was usually reserved for celebrations on Tamaran, the group had split off to do their own things. Starfire was trying to get Raven to open up and talk about... stuff that girls talked about, Beast Boy facing guys on the internet on Brawl as Pikachu, while Cy and Robin took to washing the dishes.<p>

_"Hey Cy, you seen Vent?"_ Robin asked.

_"No, not really,"_ the teen returned. _"He looked like he had something on his mind, but it's hard to tell with the guy."_

_"_Tell_ me about it. I'm still trying to run a psyche profile on the guy,_" Robin said rubbing one of the bowls clean before letting it soak into the sink.

At the same time four floors below, Vent stood across the middle of the DR from who else but Cinderblock. Now, most would be worried or even wondering as to how the stone-born behemoth had gotten into the tower. However, if you approached it from a logistical standpoint, the Danger Room was designed to help Vent with _exactly _what he needed help with. Practicing for future fights by recreating circumstances to the best ability that the present technology allowed.

"Ha! Ha! Ha!" the brunette shouted as he chucked a trio of baseball-sized airbolts at Cinderblock's face, a bit of dust being kicked up only to reveal no real damage, just like in their earlier fight. "RrrrrAH!" he shouted as he sent a strong gale of wind at the thing's head. It tipped back slightly, but the simulation then righted itself, showing that even_ if_ caught by surprise even his _strongest _wind wouldn't be able to knock him down. Admittedly, the atmospheric conditions within the DR couldn't draw out the maximum, meteorological power of his aerokinesis, though that was only a moot point at the moment. Charging a grapefruit-sized airbolt, then bowling ball-sized one after chucking the first, his eyes narrowed and sweat fell down his forehead as he saw that even with all his effort he wasn't even making a _dent_ in Cinderblock's thick hide. Charging another bowling ball-sized airbolt before compressing it down to as small as it would go, currently baseball-sized, he chucked it straight into Cinderblock's face, the smoke clearing only to reveal that a tiny chip of stone had been dislodged, and even then only from the corner of its nose. "Man, I'm still no closer to beating Cinderblock than I was an hour ago," Vent huffed as he let himself fall onto his rear, panting slightly at the effort needed for all of his aerokinetic moves. Contrary to common belief, people with powers over elemental manipulation _not _tied directly to the state of their bodies could get tired if they threw their powers around too much, even if said element was _very _abundant around them. That was why most had to remain calm and not overexert themselves, lest they risk burning through too much... "spiritual" energy would be the best word he supposed. If then asked, the best way he could say it would be like an MP or TP gauge slowly being whittled down with each "Tech". It slowly filled up over time on its own, faster if sleeping or relaxing, but wear it down enough and he'd be running on empty. Quite ironically, _his _body's reaction to using too much energy up in his techniques was to become _winded_.

**"Maybe you should rest yourself. Training yourself into the ground will do you no good,"** Dr. Slim's avatar stated as it materialized beside Vent. After getting into the DR post a couple servings of Pudding of Happiness, he voiced that a talking _room _was a little unnerving, and asked the AI if there was any way he could speak to him from an "avatar" of sorts. At the very least, he'd have a face to talk to that would talk back, as opposed to talking into any old direction and feeling like he were _inside _the AI, or maybe a haunted house. After a little tweaking, the two finally came up with an avatar of sorts, modeled after a holographic blue-tinted Brit in grey jogging suit with the word **Coach **printed across the front, a whistle around his neck, labcoat over his shoulders, sandals on his feet, and wire-rimmed glasses. His hair swept back over a plain featureless face, and just for shit and giggles Vent had the AI put a handlebar moustache on his upper lip like Alexander Louise Armstrong's. Lacking any human need for conformity that would otherwise make Dr. Slim reluctant to take such an odd looke, the AI took it all in stride. After all, it _was _his job to adapt to the User's individual needs to create ease of use, and the use of an "avatar" could be the key to his Perfect AI technology being further developed. Maybe even expanded upon.

"Not _*pant* _yet _*pant*_" Vent heaved in and out as he got to his feet, then grabbing the wooden bokken he'd borrowed from the gym, probably Robin's, as he gathered aerokinetic energy around the blade, then leapt into the air when he couldn't mold anymore within the inch-thick shell. "Ittou Ryoudan: Genmurei!" Vent shouted swinging the borrowed sword in a powerful pivot, the supersonic air wave flying through the air before impacting the simulated Cinderblock, kicking up a cloud of dust. When it cleared however, it was revealed that the imitation Level 3 Hyper Move hadn't even left a scratch. "What the hell? I split Plasmus' face in _half _with that technique, and yet I get _nothing_?" he cried in outrage.

**"I do believe the problem is as much with your technique as your target,"** Slim's avatar said standing next to the brunette. **"The immitation of the _One Sworded Double Severing: Phantom Zero _was only able to do what you claimed it did to Plasmus because it's body is made of a malleable plasma-like substance, capable of taking outside forces and nullifying the damage by allowing them to pass through or around itself."**

"Heh. I guess it was a little much to expect for something that worked on that grease stain to work on everyone," the brunette quipped, but then remembered that beneath all the slime and muck, Plasmus was just as human as everyone else, just burdened with something he couldn't control. _Hmmm. That sounds oddly familiar, _he thought to himself, a blond teen coming to mind before he shook it off. "What's Cinderblock's current structural integrity since I started hacking away at him?" he asked. Given Cinderblock's current size to mass ratio, it was easy enough to come up with a measurement for the density of its body, and the video footage from earlier helped add a certain degree of realism.

**"Current integrity has not changed from the 97.5 percent you have been able to whittle it down to,"** Slim stated, noting that the simulation had nary a scratch on it, sans the single scratch across its face. Had it been the _real _Cinderblock on the other hand, the brunette _surely _would've incurred the thing's wrath by then.

"So then in a straight-up fight Cinderblock would kick my ass," Vent huffed letting himself drop to the ground, letting the wooden sword clatter to his side. His air blade that he used on Star's cuffs when they first met might've been able to do some damage, but doubted it had the cutting power necessary to do any lasting damage, and the charge-up time needed to get the blade ready in relation to what it was cutting, as well as the concentration required for it to continue working, made that specific technique currently impractical for combat application. He had to stand perfectly still and charge for a full minute to slice through a half-inch of metal. It'd probably take an _hour's _charge to do any real damage to the stone behemoth, and he doubted Cinderblock would be that accomodating.

**"Indubitably. Do you wish to continue?"** Slim asked.

"No. I'm too tired from Plasmus as it is," Vent huffed as he got up, bringing the sword with him as the factory setting and the simulae disappeared, sighing disappointedly in himself and picking up the wooden sword before he got to the elevator, which opened up to reveal both Robin and Cyborg with crossed arms. "Hey guys... How long've you been watching?" he asked nervously.

"Long enough," Robin returned, having watched the exchange from the control room and taking notice of the hologram that Vent was talking to. At the moment, the brunette looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, and under different circumstances, the look the shorter Robin was giving the head-taller brunette would've been quite humorous, were the mood not so serious.

"Look, I understand what you're trying to do, but we _all _have guys we can and can't fight," Cy said, clapping a hand onto the teen's shoulder.

"We formed a team for a reason Vent. So that when _one _of us met an enemy we couldn't beat on our own, we'd have someone to watch our back and help us out," Robin said as the elevator headed back towards the common area.

"I thought we formed this merry little band of ours to help Star get those alien fish-monkeys off her back," the brunette returned with the strange sense of humor he'd become known for in the months or so they'd known one another.

"That isn't what I meant," Robin grumbled. "Alright, _sure_ you can't face Cinderblock yet, but that's only because solid rock is sturdy and air... isn't. I'm sure _someday _you might come up with a way to fight him, but for now just focus on the ones you _can _fight," he said trying to cheer him up. It was evident that not being able to help the others back at the factory was eating at the brunette, pun not intended. Even with as crazy as he came across, Robin could tell _that _much about him.

"Yeah... Maybe so," Vent sighed as he leaned back against the elevator, wiping a bit of sweat from his brow. "I guess up until now my wind techniques were all I needed, and I _still _thought they were all I needed. Now however, I see that the threats are only going to continue getting bigger, and if I don't want everyone around me to get hurt, then I have to keep getting stronger."

"Dude, this isn't an _anime_. At the worst we'll face a supervillain or two. Nothing _godlike_," Cy said ruffling the teen's hair, not knowing how wrong he actually was. "Besides, we're here to defend our town from whatever comes our way. We have the Justice League up above watching for anything strange, and I'm sure if anything out of our league _did _show up, pun not intended, they'd send a squad to help us out."

"Yeah, so don't beat yourself up over _not _being able to beat up Cinderblock," Robin said trying to cheer the teen up. "You're fast, and you're not ground-bound like some of us are. You'll have your day," he said giving the teen a pat on the back, the brunette cracking a smile in return.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said a bit relieved. "Thinking back on it, you and I are in the same boat. _You _can't really beat Cinderblock on your own yet either. Way I see it, everyone _else _could," he said thinking about how Cy, Star, Rae, and even BB could take the hulking behemoth down in their own ways.

"Just don't think too deeply into it. There's more than _brute force _needed to face guys like that," Robin reminded with a huff, deciding to save his Batman vs Bane stories for later. "Now come on. You're just in time to help Cy and I clean the dishes," he said leading the others into the common area.

"Heh, you rhymed," Vent chuckled, having gotten over his current limitations.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Street Fighter or any moves. I do not own the X series or any of Zero's moves. I do not own any Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 characters (<em>Ultimate <em>edition coming out 11/15/11). References made to it are based on what is currently known about the characters coming out, hence I had to work around what I didn't. Do not own Fullmetal Alchemist/:Brotherhood (Alexander Louise Armstrong's moustache).**

**Author's Notes: Don't think I need to say who the two at the end were. Anyone who's ever seen/read Teen Titans should know by now.**

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	5. Alien Sister

A few days had passed since Cinderblock had broken Plasmus out of prison, and with the team back together again, life seemed good. Rob and Cy kept quiet about Vent kicking himself over Cinderblock and Plasmus since it would only cause complications in the team, something the brunette thanked them for profusely. At the moment, the team was at the fair taking place at Jump's boardwalk, carnival rides, games, and all assortment of unhealthy snack foods abound; Robin and Starfire were riding the Ferris wheel together while Cy, BB, and Rae _–much to the latter's distress- _had formed a little group taking their tries at the carnival games. Vent on the other hand, for some reason being the only one to get out of uniform, was taking his time just enjoying the down time and trying to find ways that his powers could help the team out against foes, figuring which only _he _would be able to face. With a team as diverse as theirs however, that was proving a bit difficult, though he could think of a couple situations where his powers would be just as effective, if not moreso, than the others'.

Presently he was wearing black jeans, a silver-studded black belt, black hoodie with a falling crow with a white ankh in the center on his back, black leather wristbands, and a headband with a skull on it holding his hangs back. At the moment he had completely disassociated himself from the Teen Titan Ventus/Vent, the only characteristic that would link the two together being his open-toed sandals, which were red with black trim, and even then that was a bit of a stretch. With the cowl of his hood up, while his crimson eyes shone a bit in the moon's light, he could easily pass himself off as _some _form of goth, and with his appearance causing people to eer away from him, he could spend some time just being himself rather than a Titan, since after arriving at the boardwalk, the other Titans had been swarmed by fans until they were shooed off. He was only thankful that Raven had kept Beast Boy's mouth shut about him being "out of uniform", otherwise he'd get no peace.

"How much for this game?" he asked stepping up to the dart tossing game, much like any other you'd find at a fair, carnival, or festival.

"One dollah for _three _darts!" the man behind the counter said animatedly, since such mannerisms prompted people into spending five bucks at the least for each visit. "Pop a balloon, win a prize," he said pointing to the ceiling, an array of stuffed animals and plushies from varying media up on display for all to see. After looking around, most of the prizes too distasteful or too troublesome to win or carry around, his eyes landed on a pair of round bunny-like plushies with slanted eyes, one white and one black, the prior with a blue jewel on its forehead while the latter had a red one. Seeing as how the two were most likely meant to be kept as a pair, he figured he could win them both and give the black one to Raven.

_Who knows? Maybe she'll like a dark-colored plushie as opposed to something girly, or _worse_, a giant chicken_, he thought digging into his pocket and pulled out a dollar, thinking just what BB was putting the poor girl through in an attempt to get her to laugh. "Three darts please," he said passing them to the clerk, who happily slipped it the note into the lock box before handing the _kid _three red darts.

"Here ya go kid. Three darts," the man returned. Staring intently at the slightly-pointed projectils, he figured that with the way they were slightly dulled, that he'd need more force than a straight-forward trajectory to pop the balloons. Hence just how the game was rigged. However, this guy wasn't dealing with the average carnival-goer. He'd seen enough of these things to know that a parabolic arc with a descent would give the dulled darts enough force to pop the balloons, a detail most overlooked since the balloons were "relatively close" to where the thrower was.

Still, it didn't help to add onto his already-odd appearance, so he closed his eyelids while they glowed silver underneath, he coated each dart with a bit of wind energy before tossing them lazily into the air, the first and last darts popping the balloons they hit while the middle one missed. No need for a third prize right?

"Huh. Guess you win two prizes then," the man said, noticing the parabolic arc used, but not the wind enhancement. "Well alright then. What's the man want?"

"The white and black rabbit-like plushies right there," he said pointing to the two, the man retrieving the two before tossing them to Vent, which he caught in his arms before looping the tiny rings on their backs to his curled fingers as he went over to get some cotton candy.

At the same time, BB and Cy were by the ring toss carnival game, Raven wishing she'd just gone with the black-clad Ventus, but remembered he was trying _not _to be bothered by the fans that the Titans had accumulated during their time in Jump City. Plus, the giant **T-**shaped tower in the bay, as well as an alien girl in a skirt, green changeling, cyborg, and traffic-light-colored teen were hard to miss. It also didn't help that her grey skin and the chakra on her forehead would make her easy to spot, even _in _civilian garb. She tried maintaining a level head about all this regarding the only member of the team who seemed _oddly _level-headed enough to tolerate, even if he _did _act like a total stooge, but the pounding of fireworks in her ears wasn't helping.

As all these thoughts were going through her head, Beast Boy and Cyborg were apparently making a big deal out of winning the ring toss, exchanging a high five before the changeling grabbed the biggest and most cumbersome prize he could get his grey-gloved hands on.

"Told ya we'd win a prize," he said handing her a large egg-shaped chicken plushie, the thing up to Beast Boy's shoulder.

"A giant chicken. I must be the _luckiest _girl in the world," Raven sighed as she begrudgingly took the chicken, her voice practically _oozing _with sarcasm.

"Hey there, thought you might like this," the black-clad teen said as he walked up to the three, holding out a black rabbit-like plushie with a rounded red jewel on its forehead to the mage.

"You... won a prize for me?" she asked, wondering why he'd go so far if he was trying to _disconnect _himself from the team at the moment. He certainly wasn't making it any _easier _for himself.

"Yeah. Don't see why I shouldn't," he replied from the cowl of his hood. "Plus, with this little guy here we've got two of a pair," he said motioning to the white one in his hands with a smile. Pushing the chicken plushie into BB's arms, the changeling pouted at how readily she took the black plushie instead, the girl noting that it wasn't too girly for her tastes, though before she could thank him things started heating up at the Ferris wheel.

"Titans, trouble!" Robin said jumping down from the ferris wheel.

"Where's Starfire?" Cy asked.

"That's the trouble," he said before turning to Vent, ignoring the fact that he was trying to _be _ignored. "Vent, I need you to take off in that direction. The thing that took her will be hard to miss. Back her up when you find her."

"_*Sigh* _Fine. I was getting tired of playing civvie anyway," Vent sighed. "Here Rae, hold this," he said passing the mage the white plushie before running across the boardwalk, jumping over the railing to a few people's distress before he took off into the air, following the flash of green and pink out in the distance. _Looks like I won't be able to use _Goth Vent _to hide in plain sight anymore, _he sighed as he took off, seeing a pseudo-mechanical pink, grey, and black octopus-like thing with four pointed tentacles trying to capture her.

* * *

><p>On the other side of the chase, Star had been having a good evening. Watching the fireworks with Robin, eating the cotton candy that wasn't dry and didn't taste bad in her mouth, and all in all having a good time with the spiky-haired teen she'd come to admire. However when a pink and black mechanical octopus-thing flew by and abducted her, she found herself struggling against the thing's grip as it flew out to the ocean. Struggling for a few moments, she was then able to fire a starbeam at its lower body and shock it enough to make it let her go. As she headed for the shoreline and the others however, the streamlined creature proved to be just as fast as she was, and would've captured her again were it not for the-<p>

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!" Vent cried as he flew past her at Mach 1 –_not literally_- into a flying kung fu kick and striking the alien tentacle monster with the bottom of his right foot, sending it tumbling backwards through the air. "You go on ahead! I'll hold this thing off while you get the others!" he said jerking a thumb at the alien tentacle monster with the violating tentacles.

"But friend Ventus-"

"Go on! I'm fine!" he said giving the girl a thumbs up. With a nod, she left, and when she was out of range, Vent grabbed his foot and cried, "Owowowowowowow! Whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy!" only for the alien tentacle monster to shoot past him in his moment of distress. "Aw man! And that move was so awesome too!" he said before flying off after it. _Owmyfoot! Owmyfoot! Owmyfoot! Owmyfoot! _he thought to himself as his sandaled foot throbbed madly. Were this a cartoon, it would be throbbing bright red like a warning light.

As the three flew back to the boardwalk, Starfire had been shooting her starbolts at the thing trying to make it stop, only for her energy attacks to bounce off its shell harmlessly. Vent tried shucking a few _air_bolts at the thing, but when his attacks didn't go anywhere he remembered he couldn't launch projectiles in front of himself when flying straightforward at anything too far over sprinting speed.

"No more chasing now please!" Star cried as she took off, taking off past the others who had made it to the end of the boardwalk just as Vent had grabbed onto one of the thing's tentacles. When he did so however, in addition to his grip slipping, the other tentacles seemed to be acting independently of the body, lashing at him and forcing him to let go, causing him to nearly bowl Beast Boy over had Rae not plucked him out of the air with her magic, a smile on the wind-manipulator's face when he saw the girl had looped the rings on the backs of the plushies onto her belt.

"So. Who's her new best friend?" Beast Boy asked jokingly.

"A real _jerk _that's who," Vent groaned rubbing his sore cheek, which one of the tentacles whipped before he lost his grip on the thing. Star circled around the Ferris wheel and stopped back with the group, BB leaping forward and transforming into a crocodile in order to bite into the thing, only for it to prove too slippery as it flew past them. Raven then chucked a hot dog stand at the thing, only for the pink, black, and grey tentacle monster to plow right through it. When it tried to fly past Cyborg however, he and Vent quickly grabbed the thing's tentacles, the prior's strength holding it back while the latter acted as insurance.

"Rrrgh. Don't know what you did to make this thing mad Star, but it couldn't _hurt _to apologize," the cyborg grunted out as he held the thing back, even as it tried flying forward.

"I am... sorry?" she asked more as a statement, still trying to wrap her head around what was going on. When the thing squirmed out of Cy and Vent's grip however, Robin quickly whipped out his bo staff and leapt at the thing, slamming his staff into it with a loud ringing sound as it stumbled back before falling into the sea with a loud splash.

"So... Did we just win?" BB saw fit to ask as he looked over the edge, only for it to shoot up through the boardwalk.

"You just _had _to say that didn't you?" Vent asked as the thing went after Star again, who once again took off trying to keep it from capturing her again. Robin leapt onto the thing and steered it away, looking for an off switch before he decided to just _make _one, punching through a maintenance hatch before yanking out whatever he could get his hands on, some alien wiring by the looks of it, before he hopped off, the thing bulging and convulsing as it headed into the sky, Vent creating a gale to help carry the thing away before it exploded spectacularly in the heavens, thankful his powers had been useful that time.

"Whatever that thing was, it can't hurt you now," Robin said trying to reassure her.

"But... Why did it wish to hurt me at _all_?" she asked worriedly. As far as she knew, the Gordanians would lay off now that they'd been shown their advances wouldn't be taken quietly, so who would send a sophisticated drone like that to try and capture her?

* * *

><p>Given that Cy was still developing the Teen Titan's overall mode of transportation at the moment <em>-which he kept hidden under a tarp when not working on it-<em>, the Teen Titans had two main modes of transportation available to them before that time came. One was for the flyers to help those who couldn't along, Star being the only one actually capable of carrying Cy's ton-weight bulk. The other was via an unmarked patrol car in the form of a van capable of holding them all with a little lack of elbow room, or just the ground-bound with plenty of elbow room, should the team be exhausted from their patrols. Now, color the teens surprised when they come home to-

"Come friends. I shall thank you for my rescue by reciting the Poem of Gratitude," Star said as oddly enough, the scenery around her became _very _flowery, Vent wondering if someone was screwing with his mind by using an illusionary technique on him. "All six thousand verses."

Scratch that. Color the teen surprised when they came home to...

"I see you haven't changed a bit," a girl with black hair, orange skin, and purple eyes _highly _resembling the team's alien said from against the back of the couch, though her eyes were slightly more narrowed than Star's and were blue. As if to make things weirder, the girl appeared to be wearing the exact same, if not _slightly _modified, outfit that Star had been wearing when she initially escaped the Gordanians, only without the headdress and with _slight _aesthetic modifications. "When we were little _I _was always rescuing Starfire."

"Eee! Sister!" Starfire squealed as she ran up and hugged the black-haired version of herself.

"Brought you the present," the black-haired girl said after separating, pulling out what Beast Boy thought was a stout Green Rupee with a metal loop on the top attached to a black cord.

"_*GASP* _A Centauri Moon Diamond? Where did you _get_-"

"On the Centauri moons of course," the black-haired girl replied. "Oh look, it matches your eyes," she said with a smile after looping the cord around the girl's neck, who smiled widely before pulling her over to the others.

"You _must _meet my friends," she said before yanking the girl off her feet. "I wish to introduce my big sister-"

"Blackfire," the girl spoke, which Vent noticed was in more fluent English than Star's. "And since Star told me _all _about the Titans in her transmissions, let me guess... Cyborg," she said addressing the larger teen.

"Pleased to meet you little lady," he said with a smile, Vent visibly flinching when the guy raised his hand up, which was _quite _rended from the girl's blatant super strength. "Little lady, _big _hand shake," he chuckled with a grin. "Well all right."

"Raven," she said stepping over to the mage. "I like that gemstone on your Anja chakra," she said commenting the red gem on the girl's forehead.

"You... know about chakras?" she asked.

"I got _way _into meditation on Altara Prime," Black answered. "Beast Boy, what's up?" she then asked the greenette.

"Nothin' but the ceiling baby," he quipped.

"Ah haha. Good one," she chuckled.

"See. _She _thinks I'm funny," BB said over his shoulder.

"Statistically, I suppose _someone _has to," Rae then returned.

"Y_ou _must be her '_buddy _of _flying_', Ventus," she said extending a hand to the brunette, which he took.

"Yep. That's me. You wanna be my buddy of flying too?" he asked with a goofy grin.

"My my, quite the charmer you have here," she said with a smirk as she pinched his cheek, her alien strength causing a slight bruise which he started nursing as soon as she let go. "We'll have to fly a bit later. I hear you've got a few cool moves," she said before turning her attention to Robin. "And _you _must be Robin. Oh I am _loving _this cape, it's positively _luscious_," she said leaping to his back and running her fingers along the left edge of his cape.

"Thanks. It's a high-density polymerized titanium, ten times stronger than steel," he went on to explain.

"Fascinating," the girl returned with intrigued eyes. "And this _mask _makes you look very mys_terious_," she then said leaning towards him, causing Star to gape.

"So, beloved sister, what brings you to Earth?" the girl then interrupted.

"I was in the quadrant. Thought I'd see if _Earthlings _liked to party," she said throwing her legs over the couch. "Besides, I needed a rest. Nearly got sucked into a black _hole _on the way here," she went on to explain, Rob, BB, and Cy suddenly _very _interested in how the girl got there voicing their own questions. "Okay, I'm cruising through the Draconus Nebula and-"

"Sister, that nebula is _full _of black holes. You know travel there is for_bidden_," Star stated worriedly, though that was understandable since a person getting sucked into a black hole wasn't something to turn your nose up to. Vent doubted even Superman could get out of one if he got sucked in.

"Most fun things in life are. Now, be a sweetie and get me one of those _sodas _I've heard so much about," Black said waving off her sister, the girl grumbing as she walked over to the fridge and grabbed a yellow and green can labeled _**Soda**__._

"I see _you _haven't changed much either," she sighed, the tone of her voice showing that the initial thrill of having her older sister there had _long _since been expired. Little did she know that thousands of miles away, the alien probe from earlier had _friends_, one of which, even in death, was pointing a group of red-armored aliens _straight _towards Earth.

* * *

><p>"Sister? Sister? Sister, I seek your companionship," Star called out as she looked around the next day, having not found her sister in the Titan's guest room where she'd been sleeping after thrilling the boys the previous night. Vent had oddly enough disappeared and had not taken part in the black-haired girl's stories, having not been recorded to coming back until an hour or so <em>after <em>Black had finished regaling a series of fascinating stories to the guys, where they then went on to watch TV accompanied by pizza before heading to bed. Coming to the common area, she saw BB and Cy using the holographic TV screen to play a racing-type game, this one where you could customize the racers.

"You wanna pass me, but you can't pass me," Cy said with a smile before he faltered at a beeping sound. "You can't pa- passed me!"

"Tighten the turn, jets, and NITRO! Hahahaha!" the changeling whooped as he passed the cyborg's blue and white racer.

"Excuse me, but have any of you seen Blackfire?" she asked approaching the two.

"Blazin' B? She was here just a second ago," BB said half-focused on the game.

"Aw _yeah_! Back in the lead! Hahaha!" Cy grinned as he knocked BB's racer off the track, taking the lead as he'd just said.

"What fun. May _I _join your game?" Star asked happily.

"Winner plays Blackfire," Cy said as he continued playing while BB tried desperately to get back in the game.

"Yeah, she _rules _at this game," BB said with hearts in his eyes.

"I see," Star said walking out.

"Hey Beast Boy, getting off-topic, but where'd Vent go?" Cy asked as they started the third lap.

"Don't know. Guy left right at the Event Horizon and didn't come back for a few hours," Beast Boy stated, figuring _Vent _of all people would've been there to hear the black-haired beauty's stories of space adventures. Elsewhere in the tower, Star had walked up to Raven's door and knocked, waiting patiently before the door had opened a few inches.

"Is... my sister in there?" she then asked.

"No," she said plainly as she closed the door.

"Oh. Might _you _wish to, hang... out, with me?" she asked, the door closing just enough to see a bit of Raven's face. "We could visit your favorite depressing cafe."

"Already been. It was open mic, and Blackfire wanted to share. You sister's poetry is _surprisingly _dark," she said with a ghost of a smile on her face before closing the door fully. With a sigh, the girl walked down the hallways, coming up to the gym just in time to see Robin and Blackfire's shadows get _very _close to one another, the red-head faltering before she rushed in, somewhat thankful that Robin had been thrown to the other side of the gym, and that it wasn't what she thought she was seeing.

"Learned _that _from a Ben'zou master on Tyrus 3," Blackfire remarked once Robin oriented himself.

"Hello Robin and... my sister," Star said coming in trying to act like she wasn't upset. "Am I interrupting?"

"Not at all. Blackfire was just showing me some alien martial arts. How come _you _never taught me these cool moves?" he asked.

"Probably because she doesn't _know _them," Black said in a slightly condescending tone. "I always _was _the better fighter. Come on, I'll show you a technique I once used to stop a raging Orthax," she then said dragging the blushing Robin away, Star's expression saddening as she made her way out of the gym and into the hall. After walking absently down the corridors for an hour or so, hard to tell since there were no clocks actively placed in the tower, her expression brightened when she saw her friend Ventus, back into his usual attire, walking down the hallway and scribbling something down onto a notebook.

"Friend Ventus. Do you wish to fly with me?" Starfire asked, hoping he wouldn't turn her away.

"Of course. I always have time for my flying buddy," he returned with a smile as he closed the notebook and pocketed it, Star's eyes widening with joy before- "Blackfire said she'd be done with Robin by 4:00, so in a few minutes we can _all_ go," he continued before noticing her expression sadden. "Ah! But! I can always take her later after she spends some time with the others. Come on. We have just enough time to get a quick flight in before the 4:30 from Boston flies over," he said taking her hand and dragging her away, only to notice she had yet to move of her own volition. "Okay, Starfire, there's something wrong, I can tell that much. Please, tell me what has you down?" he asked clasping her hands together.

"Oh, it is most worrisome friend Ventus," Starfire sighed. "My big sister Blackfire, she is... monopolizing, the other's time, and I'm afraid that she will replace me on the team," she found herself admitting. Despite being an Earthling, Ventus' mannerisms seemed to oddly reflect that of a Tamaranian's openess in near-perfect detail.

"Talking about me behind my back?" Blackfire asked suddenly coming up behind her, causing her to 'eep' and whirl around. "That's certainly new for you. Glad to see you've grown up a _little _bit," she said before turning her attention to Vent. "Come on flyboy. Let me see how it is _Earthlings_ fly," she said as she took the boy by the back of his hoodie and started dragging him off, despite the protests and leaving behind a saddened red-haired Tamaranian behind.

* * *

><p>An hour or so later, Blackfire and Ventus returned to the tower after flying around, and while Blackfire seemed happy to have the flyboy to herself, said flyboy seemed distracted, as though his thoughts were elsewhere. After that the group had all moved into the living room, each doing their own thing; Robin was using a console, Raven was reading, Beast Boy and Cy were watching TV, and Vent was scribbling in the notepad he had earlier, erasing and re-writing portions of it for <em>something <em>he'd been doing at all odd hours. It was at that moment, the sun setting in the distance, that Starfire came into the living room, a large stack of DVDs, popcorn, and snacks piled high on her hands.

"Friends, I invite you to join me in the togetherness of a stay-home movie night," she said getting their attention. I bring you popcorn, and non-cotton candies. Tell me, what sort of movie shall we view?"

"Action."

"Comedy."

"Sci Fi."

"Horror."

"Historically-based," Ventus said following Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Raven's answers, the four looking at him oddly at his choice of movie. "What? If we ever end up in a different time period, a historically-based movie may be the only thing keeping is from making Hitler president of _LexCorp_," he said worriedly. This of course _-the varied answers, not Vent's own-_ caused Star to visibly deflate, dropping all that she carried in.

"Perhaps... a double-feature?" she went on to ask with a distressed look. The guys really weren't making it easy for her to hang out with them at the present time, and Blackfire-

"Forget the _flicks _kids. We're going _out_," she said walking into the living room. And wearing Star's clothes.

"We are? Where did you-? Are those my-?"

"Heard about a party downtown. Cool crowd, hot music," Black said totally ignoring her sister.

"Cool." "I'm in." and "Why not," were Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin's respective answers.

"And it's in a creepy run-down _warehouse_," Black then tacked on, garnering Raven's attention from the dusty old book she was reading. At that the team left for the party, though for some odd reason Beast Boy had transformed into a gorilla after passing Starfire.

"Hey sweetie. Raided your closet. Hope you don't mind me borrowing your look," Blackfire said as she passed her sister.

"Why not? You have already borrowed my friends," Starfire said with a deadpanned expression.

"Come on now. You know that's not true," Vent said placing a hand on her shoulder, surprising the red-head at his presence beside her, since she'd assumed he would leave like the others.

"Friend Ventus? Why are you not going to the party with the others?" she asked.

"Eh, I'm not really one for the party scene," he said shrugging his shoulders. "But if you want I can escort you there anyway. Show your sister she can't monopolize _my _time," he said extending a hand to her. While he had in fact flown with Blackfire, being slightly depressed at being yanked away from his _first _flying buddy, he hadn't been as animated about it as he would've, but put on a good act for the girl. She may or may not have seen through it, but the brunette didn't really care whether Star's older sister had or not. He hates above all else to see a girl hurting, and Star was hurting on the inside, the worst kind of pain there was.

"Oh thank you friend Ventus! You are most and truly kind!" she said bypassing his extended hand and pulling him into a crushing hug, a loud cracking sound ringing through the air which Beast Boy swore he heard from the lobby.

"Yeah... Great..." the brunette returned through clenched teeth. _Man what I wouldn't give for Wolverine's healing factor right about now, _he said staving off unconsciousness. _It'd be a _real _dick move if I died right now, _he added as an afterthought as blackness crept around the corners of his vision.

* * *

><p>Arriving at the party, the room flashing pink and blue alternately as the loud music played, the partygoers parted around Blackfire like she <em>owned <em>the place. Looking over her shoulder, Raven spotted Vent and Starfire making their way through the crowd, though the prior was subtly pushing others out of the way with his wind powers. After finding someone equally goth to her, if not moreso, to talk to, she decided to forego the partying and leave the others to their own devices. Star, being as seemingly-naive as she was, made a complete fool of herself the moment she got separated from Vent, who by that time had taken to the rafters to escape the partygoers looking for her, but eventually settled for leaning against one of the support beams and looking off into the sky. Thinking back on it, he would've been damned if he _did _hold Star's hand for varying reasons, or damned if he _didn't _for varying reasons, one of those reason being four feet tall who smells like cheap hair gel and may come to the wrong conclusion.

"Blackfire... She's up to something, I can tell," Vent sighed to himself, and if Blackfire heading up to the roof after Robin had wearing a pink _wig _wasn't a good enough of an indicator, he didn't know _what _was. Spotting Star getting abducted by one of the probes from earlier, he was about to get up and help her before he saw another one abduct Beast Boy out of the corner of his eye. As if to make things worse, a third one then slammed into Cyborg and brought him to the ground. Figuring that the things were after _Starfire _though, he launched a concussive air blast and knocked one of the skylights out of its hinges, the glass remaining intact before it hit the roof, which by that point he had already taken to the skies. A pink pseudo-mechanical tentacle monster with a flailing red-headed orange-skinned girl in its clutches was kinda hard to miss. Before he could reach her however, the tentacle monster had suddenly dived down through the skylight, taking the girl back down into the warehouse. "Why can't things ever be easy?" he wondered as he dropped down into the warehouse, Cy knocking one of the aliens to the side as Starfire broke free of the debris, blasting one of the aliens with a starbeam. Beast Boy leapt out of the way and transformed into a tiger mid-flip, who pounced at the tentacle monster and smacked it back with its paw, the three suddenly turning their attention to Star Cy and Vent knocked two out of the way, Cy grappling with one of them as Vent tried to find a weakness to exploit, the cyborg getting knocked away when one of the things knocked him away as it spun around wildly. "Man, where's Robin when you need him?" he asked as Cy burst through one of the walls, catching Robin and Blackfire by surprise when the dust settled.

"What's going on?" Robin asked, having been a bit preoccupied with Blackfire's advances towards him.

"Remember that thing that attacked Star? It had friends," he said before getting up and running back into the brawl. Following after him, the Boy Wonder faced Blackfire and noticed she had yet to move from her spot,

"Didn't you hear him? Your sister needs help."

"Right... Of course," the black-haired Tamaranian said discarding her pink wig and running to join the fight.

At the same time outside, Star had been knocked through a warehouse wall and into another before falling into an open dumpster, the lid falling over her from the sudden jarring. Before she could get out however, one of the tentacle monster clamped down on it and held it shut, its cohorts then heading off towards the horizon. A few seconds into the girl's screams however, one of Robin's birdarangs had cut two of the thing's tentacles off.

"Teen Titans go!" the group said as Rob caught his projectile weapon, Blackfire rushing at the aliens as they suddenly found her worth noticing, flying straight towards her with tentacles forward. To the Titan's surprise, the black-haired girl had suddenly fired purple eye beams straight through the thing's lower bodies, which sparked before they each detonated. As bits and pieces of the tentacle monsters clattered across the ground, Rob, Cy, BB, and Rae approached the black-haired girl, whereas Vent went ahead to check on Starfire.

"Aw yeah! Good times!" Cy said as he ran up to her.

"Nice shootin' Tex," BB added.

"Very nice," Rae complimented.

"How did you know where to hit them?" Robin asked, finding how quickly she took the three down a bit odd.

"Lucky guess," the girl offered.

"We could _use _luck like that. Maybe you outta join the team," Cy offered.

"Me? A Teen Titan?" Blackfire asked with partially-hidden shock, Starfire opening the lid on the dumpster and gasping with wide eyes. This action had the accidental effect of nailing the brunette in the chin when he tried to help her, being knocked out due to the hit to the chin before he hit the ground.

* * *

><p>Later that evening at the shocking revelation, the group had gotten back home to the tower, the majority of the group celebrating their victory. While Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg celebrated with Blackfire, Raven and Vent went back to their rooms for their own reasons. For Raven, it was because she was disappointed that the goth she was speaking with brought up something as <em>peppy <em>as show tunes. Vent on the other hand had chucked airbolts like crazy at the tentacle monsters during the fighting, though like with Star's starbolts, none of his attacks did any damage, so he headed to his room physically and mentally exhausted, in need of a nap.

It was later into that evening that Starfire was walking to the edge of the roof, a pink backpack in hand with a few meagre possessions stowed away. Looking up at the moon, the girl sighed as she was about to take off into the wild blue yonder, and then into the ether. However, before she could do so, a familiar voice caught her attention.

"Are you just going to leave without saying goodbye?" Robin asked walking up to the roof. Flying over to him, the girl let her bag drop from her shoulders as she attempted to collect her thoughts.

"Robin... I _*gasp*_" was all the girl could say before a grey alien dropship with a pair of red-armored crustacean-esque aliens suddenly dropped down, the low humming being the only thing to alert them to their presence. Robin quickly whipped out his cape to act like a guard, the first red-armored alien releasing a green tentacle-like weapon from its clawed arm and bypassing his guard, sending the spiky-haired teen reeling from the force of the hit. On the return trip, it wrapped around Starfire's waist, arms, and mouth, preventing her from even crying out.

Growling as he got up, the Boy Wonder ran at Starfire in an attempt to grab onto the tentacle that was taking her away, leaping off the roof and flying a dozen or so feet before he lost momentum and began falling. Losing sight of the Boy Wonder, Star cried out against the thing across her mouth as she was taken away into the night sky.

At the same time, as Robin fell just short of catching Starfire, he suddenly felt a hand grab his belt. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Vent flying towards the alien ship as he readjusted his goggles on his head.

"Figured you could use a hand," the brunette said with a smile.

"Vent? I thought you were still exhausted from earlier," Robin said even as they headed for the ship.

"So I took a power-nap, so sue me," the brunette quipped. "Actually _don't _sue me. It's too much paperwork," he chuckled.

"Not funny," Robin grunted.

"Alright, alright," Vent sighed. "Now come on. Let's go get your girlfriend back."

"S-She's not my girlfriend," the Boy Wonder muttered with a tinge of red on his face.

"... Whatever," the teen sighed before shooting off, Robin holding onto his shoulder as the two took off.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere high in the clouds, the sky tinted purple and the moon tinted violet, the alien ship prepared to leave Earth's atmosphere, the capturing alien placing a thin barrier of translucent energy around the captured Tamaranian, the green tentacle-like binds still holding her arms to her body and her mouth shut. Despite all this, the girl continued to struggle, crying out incessantly against her binds.<p>

"Prepare to leave Earth orbit. We have the Tamaranian girl," the first alien stated to his partner, who was currently guarding the dome holding Starfire.

"Once we return to Centauri, you will _pay _for what you have done," the guarding alien then said leaning over Star imposingly. She was about to cry out once more, but spotted two silhouettes flying in the sky high above, the first dropping down behind the guard looming over her, while the other dropped down behind the pilot. Tears of joy were on the break of leaking from her eyes when she saw that not only was Robin okay and here to help her, but Vent had come as well.

"My friend stays here!" Robin shouted as he engaged the first red-armored alien in combat. The second one had set it to autopilot and was about to attack the Boy Wonder, only for the brown-haired teen to drop in front of him a moment later, a silver Navy Zippo lighter with a red inset salamander pattern on the side being clicked on and off on his thumb.

"Interesting thing about oxygen density. It's the difference between a spark," _**–click- **_he said clicking the lighter on again, casting shadows across his face in the evening light as the air around the alien guard became dense, a thin trail of it inching towards the half inch-tall flame. "And an explosion," he finished as the tiny flame roared to life _**-FWOOOM- -KROOM-**_, a localized explosion knocking the alien back in a flash of heat and fire, but not out. Vent then assumed a fighting stance as the alien got up, only or the clash of metal against metal to meet his ears before the ship suddenly lurched beneath him violently. Looking to the side, he saw the ship's left turbine sparking, and that Robin had freed Starfire form her containment. Without a second thought, he abandoned ship as the vehicle began to careen towards the wastes alongside the river, knowing full well that Robin and Starfire could take care of themselves.

After getting off the ship, its two-pointed nose dragging across the ground before flipping over completely, Vent's feet came to a stop on the dusty ground. Looking over his shoulder, he was then relieved to see Starfire descending to the ground with Robin in hand.

"Star! Robin! Vent!" Beast Boy called out as he ran up to them.

"Are you guys okay?" Cy asked, the group looking over their shoulders to see the two red-armored aliens walking away from their downed ship.

"Titans, get ready," Robin said as he and the others assumed fighting stances, he, Cy, BB, and Vent forming up around Star while Raven stuck to the back and prepared to call out her magic.

"In the name of the Grand Centauri Empire, you are _all _under arrest," the leading alien said as it walked up to them, pulling a yellow black-marked pentagon-shaped badge from the plate of armor on its chest, throwing the six off completely.

"Space cops?" Vent cried in shock.

"Uh, you can't be the good guys. _We're _the good guys," Beast Boy argued.

"And _we _are Centauri police," the alien guard enunciated.

"The Tamaranian girl is a liar and a thief. She's committed _high _crimes against the en_tire _Centauri system," the piloting alien said then pointing to Starfire, or rather, the Centauri Moon Diamond around her neck.

"I have never even _been _to the Centauri moons," Star said worriedly, Robin then pulling the rupee-esque necklace from around her neck off and examining the diamond on the end.

"But _I _know someone who _has_," Robin then said, causing Star to gasp. "You've been chasing the wrong girl," he explained to the police as he tossed the diamond toward the leading alien, hoping not to cause an intergalactic incident.

"Wait a minute, where's Blackfire?" Vent asked looking around. "I didn't see her with the group."

"Uh..." Beast Boy stated pointing to the sky, a black dot moving through the heavens at a fast pace.

"Don't worry Star. She won't get away with this," Robin stated.

"No she will _not_!" Star growled with glowing narrowed eyes as she took off into the heavens, flying past a surprised Blackfire before coming to a stop. "Hello sister," she said with narrowed eyes and crossed arms.

"Aw, you're mad," Blackfire cooed finding it adorable. "I know, I should've _told _you I was leaving but I know how you hate goodbyes and-"

"You are a criminal and were about to let me take your place in _jail_," Star interrupted.

"Oh... Well... Yeah," she defended weakly.

"You will return what you have stolen and turn yourself over to the police," Star then said jabbing a finger at her sister.

"And what will _you _do if I don't?" Blackfire suddenly asked, her eyes glowing purple before she blasted Star with a concentrated starbolt, knocking the girl out of the sky with a cry of pain. "I always _was _the better fighter," she remarked, even as Star righted herself.

"Not anymore," she argued, her sister firing an array of starbolts at her, which she began flying straight through, the hours in the simulator practicing to _avoid _situations like this paying off as she weaved around every shot, not a single movement wasted before she was right on top of the black-haired girl. The next moment she chucked a starbolt at the girl's right hand, somehow short-circuiting her powers as she rose up to face her sister, twin orbs of light glowing brightly in her hands. Blackfire was about to begin the fight anew, a chuckle rising from her lips before it was suddenly caught off, a green alien tentacle wrapping around her arms and body, the last of the length coiling around her neck.

"Blackfire of Tamaran, you are under arrest," the alien guard said from the other end of the green tentacle, having gotten their ship off the ground during the fight.

"Farewell sister. Although you _did _betray and attack me, it was... still very nice to see you," Star said waving her sister goodbye, even as she struggled against her bonds.

"Next time it won't _be _so nice," Blackfire threatened. "I _will _get out of jail little sister, and I _will _get _even_!"

At the same time on the ground, while Starfire was saying her goodbyes and Blackfire was taken off-planet, Robin turned to Ventus and asked a question that had been on his mind since the end of their mounted rescue mission.

"So... What was that trick I saw you pull earlier?" Robin asked. The flaming explosion from a _wind _manipulator was kinda hard to miss. Especially in the middle of the night when it made a large flash.

"Roy Mustang's Flame Alchemy. Saw the specs on Fullmetal Alchemist Wiki," the brunette returned as he flicked the stylized lighter a few times, a snapping sound echoing into the night air. On the third spark, the bit of fire on the end suddenly leapt off his lighter before forming a fireball right across from him. "Pretty cool huh? I just got the trick down the other day, and I've been waiting to show it off," he explained, answering the team's unasked question as to where he was going at all odd hours of the day, which had started since facing Cinderblock and Plasmus.

"Dude, the Hadoken, Shin Shoryuken, Genmu Zero, and now Flame Alchemy? What _can't _you do?" Beast Boy asked incredulously.

"I _still _can't make a decent Kamehameha attack," the brunette huffed, causing titters across the group before it evolved into full-out laughter. "Oh ha ha very funny," the brunette huffed, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips regardless. As the group made their way home however, that look suddenly dissolved into a frown as darkened thoughts filled his mind.

* * *

><p>The next morning after the sun rose into the sky, Starfire was sitting at the edge of the roof, the wind blowing through her hair as the clouds blew by, her body soaking up the sun's rays as she thought back to how she and her sister had been separated. How things had gone wrong between them.<p>

"Hey. How're you doing?" Robin asked as he came up to the girl and sat down beside her.

"I am... sad for my sister," she admitted.

"And for yourself?" Robin asked.

"I am just glad that the truth was discovered before I was replaced," Starfire sighed. Had Blackfire's plan succeeded, and she was taken away from Earth to the Centauri prisons, she wasn't sure _what _she'd do.

"What're you talking about?" Robin asked worriedly.

"Well, you... Everyone was having such fun with her, and then Cyborg said…"

"Look, your sister was... interesting," Robin said stopping her rambling and placing his hands on her own. "But she could never take your place. No one... could ever take _your_ place," he finished with a smile, the Tamaranian girl smiling warmly. Before the two could dig more into their intimate moment together however…

"Dudes! We need you down in the Danger Room _pronto_!" Beast Boy cried from the T-Comms.

"What's wrong? Did someone get into the tower?" Robin asked.

"Uh… No," BB returned nervously. "I was... trying to see if I could hook up the XBOX in the Danger Room, but when I got here I found Vent _flipping out_! The guy's _totally _blown a gasket and is trying to blow up a hologram of Star's sister, Cinderblock, and Plasmus! WAH!" he cried as the communicator fell out of his hands after a rather powerful explosion. "Uh, dudes, I'm going to have to call you back. Have to get to a safe distance. Bye."

Looking worriedly to one another, the two separated from their intimate moment before rushing into an elevator, rushing into the metal box and heading down to the floor labeled **DR**(Danger Room), right below **DRC**(Danger Room Controls) and ran into the grey-colored room. When they arrived, Cy, Rae, and BB were already a few feet from the door looking worriedly at Vent. Looking at him as he was now, the two could understand just why.

Halfway across the room, Vent had the silver salamander-marked lighter from before clutched in his right hand, his thumb flicking it incessantly with flaming explosions going off right in front of him, a far cry from actually hitting the hologram of Blackfire, Cinderblock, and/or Plasmus on the other side of the room, the only thing indicating that any were holograms being that they flickered in and out every few seconds. However, what _really _caused them to worry was the state he was in. The end of his right thumb was bleeding from the constant flicking of the lighter's flint-wheel_, _and the front of his outfit which consisted of a white T-shirt and grey sweat pants was partially singed, the tips of his hair alight as well. Worse than even _that _however was the way he was _acting_.

"DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!" he growled as he continued to flick the lighter, mini-explosions going off in front of him as his teeth were clenched tightly and gnashing against themselves, his eyes narrowed dangerously as the silver glow shone more brightly than normal.

"What is wrong with friend Ventus? Why is he so angry?" Starfire asked worriedly, having only seen something like this when one of the warriors on her planet entered their berserker state during a tournament before the Gordanian invasion. It took several to hold him down, and it wasn't a pretty sight, even _for _a warrior race.

"No clue! I stepped out of the elevator, and the guy's already _flipping _out!" Beast Boy cried.

"His heartrate's off the chart, adrenaline's rushing, and his Beta Waves are going haywire!" Cy said using the analyzer on his arm, not wanting to get anywhere near him at the moment and risk his human components getting singed. Call him petty, but he was pretty _damn _defensive over what he had left.

"He's angry," Raven said calmly surprising the others. "And not just angry at Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Blackfire. He's also angry at himself. He's lost himself to his rage and he can't stop."

"Slim!" Robin immediately called out, waiting for the AI to appear.

"**Yes Robin?"** the AI asked appearing beside them.

"Why is there a hologram of Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Blackfire in the Danger Room, and why is Vent flipping out like this?" he asked, swearing he could see a small puddle of blood on the floor directly beneath the teen's wrist.

"**Ventus asked to make a recreation of Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Blackfire's likeness on the other side of the training room,"** the AI stated. **"He seemed **_**very **_**agitated over something, and when I asked why he wanted a simulate the three of them, Starfire's sister included, he simply grunted and told me to **_**Just make the damn thing,**_**"** he said imitating the teen's voice perfectly, the venom as laced from the AI's lips as they were from the real thing. **"Quite rude don't you think?"**

"Well shut it off!" Robin ordered. "Whatever's got him so riled up is tied _directly _to the three of them!"

"**I'm sorry, Robin. I'm afraid I can't do that,"** the AI spoke.

"Vent was right!" Beast Boy suddenly cried with flailing arms. "Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it! Kill it!" he cried out in a panic as he pointed up to the exposed circuit box on the underside of the control room, Cy raising his sonic cannon to it before-

"**You misunderstand my wording, and admittedly I should've had more tact than to make HAL 9000's most known quote from Arthur C. Clarke's **_**Space Oddysey**_**,"** the AI apologized, waiting for the others to calm down a bit so he wouldn't accidentally set them off and get himself "killed" as it were. **"Vent ordered me to keep the hologram up until he was able to disrupt it himself. As the training exercise progressed however, he continued to grow angrier and angrier."**

"Well, shut the damn thing off! Much _more_ and the stress will _kill _him!" Cy said looking back at his scanner, Robin realizing that the brunette may've reached the end of his sanity threshold and finally gone off the deep end. BIG TIME!

"**I'm- It isn't that simple. I was designed to follow the User's orders **_**to the letter **_**as it were, and Ventus explained not to remove the hologram until he's able to disrupt it by his own power,"** the AI stated. **"If you truly wish to stop him, you'll have to do so by your own power."**

"Fine. I'll take him out in one shot," Robin said readying a dull birdarang. "When he hits the ground, I need you to isolate that lighter from him," he told Raven as he pulled his arm back. "Cy, Beast Boy, get him to the infirmary and strap him down," he told the others. "I was worried for his mentality since we _met_, but I never thought he'd actually snap like_ this_," he said, sounding like he was being forced to kill his best friend before throwing the projectile in a wide arc, the red and yellow weapon heading for Vent's right temple before -_**KROOM**_- his arm went to the right and flicked the lighter, the weapon being blown out of the air sending shrapnel flying, most of which cut his skin before he slowly faced the others. Beast Boy quickly hid behind Cy as the brown-haired teen let out a low growl, his rasping breaths, glowing eyes, and hunched stance making him look reminiscent to Greed's appearance from the last FMA Brotherhood opening.

"Titans, take him down. He's become too dangerous," Robin said as he and the others were shaken out of their stupor, rushing forward only for a massive raven-shaped silhouette of dark energy to suddenly rise out of the ground in front of them, screeching into the air and stopping their advance.

"Wait," Raven called out to the three as she let the silhouette dissolve. "Maybe, fighting isn't the answer," she found herself saying, remembering back to the day they met. The only difference this time was that it was _Starfire's _turn to walk towards _Vent _and calm _him _down. Hearing these words and remembering what happened when they first met, the three could only ease out of their fighting stances as they waited to see how this would play out.

"Friend Ventus, it is I, Starfire, your buddy of flying," the Tamaranian girl said as she began walking towards him, the teen growling before he fell to his knees, lighter clutched tightly in hand as he breathed shallowly in and out. As she approached him, he raised his shaky, bleeding hand towards her, a growl leaving his lips as the girl continued to approach him. Getting on her knees in front of him and placing a calming hand on his own, his thumb left the lighter and his breathing began to level out. To Cy's relief, his Beta waves, heart rate, and adrenaline levels were _also _dropping. "It is okay. I am not going to harm you," she said as she carefully uncurled his fingers from around the lighter, easing the potential weapon from his grasp and setting it to the side before turning back to him, her hands on his own as she looked into his eyes. "Friend Ventus are you... crying?" she then asked, the others noticing silvery tears dripping from his eyes as he finally calmed down. "Friend Ventus, why are you doing this? To yourself?" she asked raising his bloody hand up for him to see.

"I... _*sniff* _When those guys took you... _*sniff* _If we hadn't gotten to you in time... _*sniff* _I... I... I would've lost my best friend," he sobbed as he hung his head, his tears forming a puddle between his knees. "If you... had been taken away... I _*sniff* _I never would've been able to forgive myself..." he said as his shoulders shook, the Tamaranian girl wrapping her arms around him and resting his head on her shoulder as she rubbed his back.

"It is alright friend Ventus. I am without harm. You do not need to grieve on what has not happened," she said as she calmed him down. "Why were you practicing your Alchemy of Flame?" she then asked, having heard about it from Beast Boy on the way back. In fact the guy couldn't shut _up _about it as they made their way back.

"Because... After Cinderblock, Plasmus, those Centauri guys, and Blackfire, I needed more power. Enough power so you guys wouldn't be at risk like that. But... I can only make explosions at point-blank range, and no matter how hard I try I can't make them ranged. I thought if I just practiced enough I'd be able to do it, but the more I tried... the more that I failed... I only got angrier and angrier," he sighed as his eyes closed.

"Ventus..." Raven said sitting beside him. "Rage isn't the path to power. It will only cause you to lose sight of what's important to you. If you wish to _truly _become strong, then you need to focus, and have a calm mind."

"... I'm sorry," Vent sighed after a few moments, his body slumping forward as he finally ran out of gas, Raven and Starfire helping him towards the elevator. "He's alright. Just mentally exhausted."

"Raven, you saw the look in his eyes. He threatened us," Robin stated as the two passed.

"He only reacted accordingly. Just give him some time to calm down," Raven said as they headed for the elevator.

"... Alright, but the next time he snaps… He's out of the team," he said, causing Star, BB, and Cy to gasp, while Raven's eyes widened. After shaking Star out of her stupor, Raven continued carrying the teen into the elevator. When the door closed behind them, Cy tapped Robin on the shoulder to get his attention.

"Robin, maybe you should give the guy a break," Cy said worriedly. "After all, he could've lost his best friend," he said, though a bit disappointed that _he _wasn't the brunette's best friend, but figured it was a first impression thing or something. "He's probably just become overprotective of us is all."

"... Fine. He stays, but if he flips out again, we're going to have to put him away," Robin said heading to the other elevator, the door closing behind him while Beast Boy and Cy turned to one another, then the puddles of blood in the middle of the room.

"Slim, get rid of the holograms," Cy sighed. "Also... Can you clean up?"

"**I am built with those capabilities, so I shall,"** the AI stated. As a pair of cleaning drones slid out of the walls to clean the dirtied areas of the DR floor, BB and Cy simply headed back to the elevator, Cy's shoulders slumping as he pressed the button.

"Man... I wonder if this is what _Robin _felt like when _I _left the team?" he asked heading up to his room, really not in the mood for any video games. "I mean, he's still _here_, but to lose him so soon after forming..."

"Yeah. I'm worried too," Beast Boy returned with crossed arms. "I know if _my _family were threatened, I might get a little stir crazy too, and for all we know, we're all the family he's got."

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (Dynamic Entry). I do not own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles (Mokona ModokiSoel & Larg plushies). I do not own Full Metal Alchemist or the Brotherhood iteration of FMA (Flame Alchemy).**

**Author's Notes: Roy Mustang's flame alchemy is dependent on manipulating oxygen density, and since Ventus can change the density of air (detailed in an Aerokinetic's range of ability), a bastardized version of Flame Alchemy is wholly possible for him. As for Ventus' outburst, well, he's not **_**completely **_**stable, and is not without his flaws like every other human. If you want to see how things play out between him and Robin (who are as alike as chalk and cheese) you'll just have to continue reading.**

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	6. Easing Back In

A few hours after being admitted to the infirmary, Raven having healed the slight damage to Vent's body, as well as helping him ease his troubled mind and injured body in the meantime, revealing that she knew "healing magic." Upon awakening, Starfire _also _tried to help ease his mind, but gasped seeing the dead look in his eyes as he simply got up and left the infirmary without a word. Following him to the common area, all the brunette did was go to the fridge, grab a snack, and then head back to his room, closing the door behind him and leaving the others locked out, the creaking of the bedsprings being the only indication that he'd settled himself into his own bed.

The next day, Ventus' movements were _still _dead and lifeless, and to tell the truth, it was starting to worry everyone. With his robotic movement and lack of responsiveness, all the brunette did was get out of bed, get whatever breakfast was laid out, head back to his room, go to the kitchen for lunch, take _that _back to his room, and repeat that for dinner, the tower silent as the grave as soon as he entered the room. It was all Robin could do to stop himself from calling Arkham, as well as sending notes for a specially-designed cell to Wayne Enterprises. He'd taken the salamander-engraved lighter to the Evidence Room and locked it away, and in addition to that had pulled Vent off of active duty. Whenever the Titans left the Tower, Raven had opted to stay behind, saying she understood the mind as well as anyone, and that any of the other's attempts to "help" him, would only cause _more _mental scarring.

And so the Teen Titans entered the second day of Vent's silence. During all the time he was out of his room, Cyborg, despite Raven's protests, tried to get the guy to lighten up by cracking a few good jokes, courtesy of Dr. Slim. The brunette remained unresponsive however, and Robin's hand could be seen twitching whenever he walked by the phone, almost as though he were just _waiting _for the guy to snap so he could have him locked away. It wasn't that Robin didn't _like _the guy or anything, but the fact was that if he kept on like this, then maybe having a mentally-unstable teen on the team wasn't such a good idea, and that for the good of everyone as a whole, he should be taken away until he were more stable. By the end of the _third _day, which was the same as the first two, Cy had decided that enough was enough, and that _one _way or another, he was going to get Vent to crack a smile. With a devious grin on his face, he had _just _the idea.

* * *

><p>It was the fourth morning, and everyone sans Beast Boy was in the common area. The sounds of breakfast being made as Cy stood at the skillet making eggs, bacon, and sausage. The rich, hearty smells permeated the air, piercing the doom and gloom of the previous three days at the mental loss of their aerokinetic friend. As he set the plates out onto the counter <em>–setting a square of tofu aside for Beast Boy-<em>, almost as if on cue, Ventus entered through the center door. The teen looked a wreck, his hair dishelved, eyes red, dark bags beneath his eyes, and the color from his face had even drained away by whatever it was he was feeling. Apparently he hadn't even bothered, or for lack of a better term been _able_, to change out of his clothes, shower, or even _groom _himself, and to tell the truth, he was starting to get a bit ripe. A few steps into the room, a fan folded out of the cyborg's left arm, directing the scent of breakfast towards the brunette as he walked forward, the teen suddenly stopping mid-stride.

At the moment the warm air hit him, everyone's hopes rose for the brunette's eventual recovery rose when his nostrils flared, the teen pulling a large quantity of air in through his nose as he inhaled the scent of breakfast on the table. _Much_ better than before when he took _whatever _was out or in the fridge without question _–aneurysm-inducing Tamaranian food included-_, a bit of light returned to his eyes as he licked his lips, his stomach growled loudly like a savage beast before he headed for the breakfast table with definite purpose. Raven and Robin looked over to see Starfire pulling a chair out for him while Cy handed him a spoon and fork when he sat down. Moments later after his butt touched the seat, the teen began digging into his breakfast almost like a starved animal, the meat products never standing a chance as he dug into them like he hadn't had a decent meal in days, those present glad he was finally out of his room for a prolonged period, though had Beast Boy been there to see the "meat attack", he probably would've passed out on the spot. Moments later however, the morning air was suddenly pierced by a loud- "AHHHHHHHHH!" –a brown-skinned lanky teen shorter than Robin bursting into the room wearing nothing but a towel, a backscrubber in his hands. Confused at who it was, Robin, Raven, and Starfire's eyes suddenly widened when they realized the brown-skinned teen was _Beast Boy_, and looking over to Cyborg's shit-eating grin, it was evident as to who was responsible for the changeling's current predicament. At the moment however, the cyborg's attention was on the brunette, who had stopped pigging out on breakfast food the moment the now-brown Beast Boy had entered the room.

The air was tense, deathly tense as everyone, even Beast Boy froze in place as the brunette was frozen mid-chomp, the spoonful of egg and bacon slowly sliding off the utensil until it landed on the plate. Within minutes of seeing the sight however, Vent's body began to shake, and when Robin feared the worst, he and Raven nearly fell out of their chairs when the brunette suddenly started pounding his fist on the table and laughing like a man possessed, his eyes clamped shut as tears leaked from his eyes.

"AH HAHAHAHAHA! Dude! I _so _wish I had my camcorder right now! This would've made Season 1 a _hit_!" the brunette laughed out loud as my some miracle all the life he'd lost suddenly returned to his eyes, the color coming back to his face as he continued to laugh, the others eventually getting into the act too, Raven included, as the weight of Beast Boy being _brown _after being _green _for so long finally set in.

"Guys! What's so funny! I'm _brown_!" Beast boy cried now pulling on his now-brown hair, his hands quickly darting to his waist so his towel wouldn't fall. If word got out that he let his towel fall down in mixed company, Elasti-Girl would have a _fit_. No, it'd be more prudent to say she'd have the whole _barn_.

"Sorry man. Had to do it," Cy said admitting _he _was the one who pulled the prank. "I wanted Vent to crack a smile since none of my _jokes _were working, and I figured this was the best way," he explained, Beast Boy noticing that Vent was no longer a lifeless zombie _–his manner causing the boy to barricade his bedroom door every night incase he'd become contaminated by the _zombie virus_-_, though this didn't mean he was going to take this prank lying down.

"Holy shit! I _never _thought I'd see Beast Boy _any _color by green! Ah hahahahaha!" he whooped before he calmed down, then looked up to Cy and Star, who seemed the most happy out of everyone that their friend was back to normal. After the group laughed it off for a few minutes, Beast Boy storming off to his room to get some pants on and see if he had a spare _mask _lying around, the brunette then got up from his seat, facing both Cy and Star. "Cyborg... Starfire..." he then said, non-laughing-related tears suddenly pouring out of his eyes and down his cheeks. "THANK YOOOU!" he cried as he suddenly pulled the two into a crushing bear hug, the two _huggees _cringing at the surprising strength behind it as he nearly squeezed the life out of the two. "I'M _SO _SORRY THAT I FLIPPED OUT LIKE YOU DID! CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?" he cried as he continued hugging the two.

"Maybe you could let them go. _That _would be a start," Robin said as he stepped towards the phone, wondering if ticking time bomb or not, Vent _still _needed a room reserved at Arkham. It wasn't that the guy was _criminally _insane, but if Ventus got out, Arkham may be one of the few places that could _hold _him –_given the proper "accomodations"_-, and _Batman _maybe one of the only guys to know _exactly _what to do.

"Huh?" he asked before seeing two white silhouettes bearing their likeness rising out of Cy and Star's mouths. "Aieeee! Get back in there you two!" he said grabbing the two soul-like protrusion's tails and cramming them back into Star and Cy's mouthes, the two snapping out of whatever had happened. "Guys... Thank you... Thank you for believing in me," the brunette said on his knees, tears of joy still streaming from his eyes as the two regained their bearings.

"You are _**-crack- **_most welcome friend Ventus," Starfire stated as she cracked her spine back into place. _His strength is most impressive, _she thought to herself.

"Think nothing _**-rrrrrrrk- **_of it," Cy returned as he bent his chassis back into place.

"Yeah yeah, warm fuzzies all around, but what're we going to do about _this_?" Beast Boy cried as he stormed back into the room, wearing his usual outfit but also wearing the mask he had from the Doom Patrol. Given his brown skin, now he looked like a kid in a Beast Boy _costume._

* * *

><p>It was one day after Ventus had gotten his sanity back -<em>though it was doubtable if he'd even lost it, or even <em>had _it, to begin with_-, but _now_, the Titans had _another _problem on their hands. Cy had confessed to putting red dye in the changeling's shampoo the night before, and had rigged his alarm clock to 7:35 exactly after he and Dr. Slim ran various simulations. The AI had _hypothesized _that enough of a shock would snap Vent out of the rut he was in. Either that or make the mental trauma even _worse_. Regardless, at the time it seemed like pranking BB and using _that _as the "shock therapy" to Vent's condition seemed like the best idea.

Now, while the changeling was _happy _that Vent was back to his usual self _–which Robin even now _still _debating whether or not he was sane-_, what he _wasn't _happy about was the fact that he was now _brown _and would probably be so for another whole day. Yesterday had been a _slow _day thankfully, and instead of Raven _he _kept Vent company while the others went out to fight crime, playing video games and making sure the brunette was hopefully sane enough to return to active duty. Despite having a few good matches on Brawl, Beast Boy was _still _miffed at Cy for what he did to him, but after Robin had picked up a newspaper for Vent in town so he could get caught up on what he missed while he was "out of it", the brunette had come up with a way to help the changeling get through the rest of the day without too much griping.

* * *

><p>"<em>Say <em>again?" Beast Boy, still brown, asked in surprise as the two headed down to the garage via elevator.

"You and I are going to win the _Dog _Show!" Vent said snapping the newspaper open. "Jump City's annual dog show happens to be _today_, and if we hurry, we may be able to get registered in time to enter," he explained. At the moment he was wearing khaki shorts and a long-sleeved blue shirt, a pair of wire-rimmed glasses _–wired on all sides except the top-_ on his face to help take attention away from his crimson-colored orbs, and had even worn closed-toed shoes. "The prize is 10 grand. We can split it down the middle if we win it."

"But won't I need a _pedigree _to get in?" Beast Boy asked pointing out the _first _potential flaw in their plan, regardless of the fact that 10 grand sounded nice right around now. Even if he and Vent _were _going to split it.

"Taken care of!" Vent said opening a brown envelope and brought out a cream-colored pedigree, the name on it marked as **Einstein**, and "Einstein's" breed listed as **Bloodhound**. "You'd be surprised what one can do with a Smart AI and a laser printer," he chuckled as he put the form back. "Now, all _you _have to do is transform into a bloodhound, do a few tricks, wow the judges, and we'll have a nice chunk of spending money in our hands," he said as he and Beast Boy marched out of the elevator, the two heading towards the car before they realized that Raven was standing _right _in the middle of the parking lot, the changeling hiding behind Vent in the form of _said _bloodhound under Raven's piercing gaze.

"What are the two of you doing?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nooothing," Vent returned.

"Entering the dog show!" Beast Boy suddenly cried, Vent whirling around to look at him. "I can't shut up when I'm scared," he whimpered before curling into a ball and returning to bloodhound form.

"Dog show... If Robin finds out he'll have a conn_iption_," Raven stated. "Not _only _that, but to do so for _gain _is a blatant misuse of your powers," she then added holding up the newspaper that Vent had dropped, pointing blatantly towards the **$10,000 **in large print in the middle of the article.

"Hmmm... What could I give you in exchange for your vow of silence, and maybe keeping the TV steered away from the dog show?" Vent asked evenly.

"Don't know. What do you have to offer?" Raven asked raising an eyebrow, entertaining the idea of what the pseudo-insane brunette would have to offer her.

"How about twenty percent of my cut, and I take you out to that depressing cafe you like later?" the brunette offered. "What was the name of the place? The Crow's Dungeon?"

"Hmmm... Fine. Deal," Raven returned after thinking it over for a moment. She _knew _it wasn't much, but $1000 dollars suited her just fine, and she _did _have her eyes on a collection of old books from the used book store in town that were on hold for her until she got the money together.

"Thanks Rae! You're the best!" Vent said running up and pulling the girl into his arms, kissing her on the forehead and causing her eyes to widen before he rushed to the van. "Come on Einstein, let's get going boy! We have _just_ enough time to get a nice leash before registration ends!" he said using the dog's cover name after he set Raven down and headed for the Van.

"W-Wait!" she called out after regaining control of her lips and facing the others as Beast Boy and Vent entered the car through the driver's side. "What do I tell the others if they need to go into town?" she asked, trying to force down the blush that threatened to consume her entire face.

"Just tell them I took BB out of town to try and get the brown coloring off his skin and that we won't be taking any calls unless it's life-or-death!" Vent said from the truck window before entering the undersea tunnel. "I'll see you later Rae!" he said waving to her with a wide grin before the dark-blue van left the mage's line of sight, said mage finally being able to calm her racing heart after the teen's infectious smile left her line of sight.

"_**Thanks Rae! You're the best!" **_Vent's words rung out loud in her head as she headed for the elevator, shaking her head to get the feel of his lips against her forehead out of her head, thankful that the shadow projected by the cowl of her hood could hide her face.

_I'm starting to think $1000 isn't worth all this trouble, _she sighed. It was more trouble than it was worth, but she'd have to make sure no one paid any attention to the dog show that day.

* * *

><p>Since the given patrol car was unmarked, Vent and Beast Boy, or rather <em>Einstein<em>, were able to seamlessly blend into the city's traffic as they made their way into a pet shop. After buying a nice, black-leather collar and a similarly-colored twine leash for him to wear, the two arrived at the convention center where the competition was piling up. By some miracle, the two had been able to complete registration in time, _Doc Brown _and _Einstein _going to the staging area to prepare for the competition.

"Alright boy, let's see what we've got here," _Doc, _who had his hair styled into a ponytail with a white scrunchie, said as he read over the program. "We start out with a conformity show, an obedience trial, then comes the dog agility..." he read off. "There's a _talent _portion for those who want to go, and I'm guessing _everyone _will be trying that," he stated, _Einstein _woofing in response. "After that is the final judging. Come on boy! Let's blow these guys away!" the brunette said with a smile as he raised his fist, the bloodhound tapping his paw on the top and bottom of the teen's hand before they bumped fists and paws. "Good boy," _Doc _said rubbing _Einstein's _ears, the dogs and their respective owners led out onto the staging area a few minutes later.

* * *

><p>"Man, 500 channels and there's nothing on," Cy groaned a half hour later, unknowingly after Vent and Beast Boy left for the dog show. "What a rip."<p>

"If there's nothing to _watch_, then just turn it _off_," Raven said from the left side of the couch, looking up from her book. Vent promised her $1000 bucks if he and BB won the dog show, and she was _going _to get that, since now she didn't have to listen to the changeling groan all day.

"And do what? Read a book?" Cy asked sarcastically, black flames like that of Itachi's Amaterasu rolling off her head as she narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "Uh... not that there's anything _wrong _with books, heheh..." he said nervously while Star waved her hand through the ethereal flames above Raven's head. "You know, how about we go into town and grab an early lunch. Where's Vent and BB?"

"Took the van out of town to try and get rid of the brown coloring. Won't be accepting any calls unless it's life-or-death," Raven stated evenly. If she could be proud of anything, it was that she could tell the biggest lies imaginable and not even shift stance.

* * *

><p>"<strong>-and now we begin the Conformity Show,"<strong> the announcer... announced as the owners and their dogs lined up, a trio of judges lining up to examine the dogs. Lastly was a casually-dressed teen with his brown-furred bloodhound, Einstein, the dog sitting proudly with shoulders squared looking forward, no fuss made as the judges examined his ears, teeth, and jowls.

"**The judges appear to have finished their judging, all impressive specimens, though **_**some **_**have more impressive pedigrees than others," **the announcer announced. **"We now move on to the Obedience Trial," **he then said, the owners instructing their dogs to do a plethora of tricks, sometimes with prodding, goading, or treats used. The tricks ranged from standard to intermediate to advanced, with a few in difficulty that few were prepared for. The dogs were ordered to Heel, Figure 8, Sit for Exam, Down, Recall, Drop on Recall, Retrieve on the Flat, Directed Retrieve, and Scent discrimination. The only ones who really stood out were Doc Brown and Einstein, the latter performing the tricks without his owner having to say anything to near-impossibly high degrees of ability. **"There will now be a brief break before the next half of the competition. And let me **_**remind **_**you, the treats and water backstage are for the **_**dogs**_**,"** the man stated, earning a few giggles out of the audience.

* * *

><p>After a short break, <em>Einstein <em>lapping up some water from being under the spotlights while _Doc _had managed to find some "people treats", the Dog Agility portion of the dog show began. First was an A-Frame nine feet high and three wide, then a Dogwalk made of three nine foot planks a foot wide, a Crossover, a yellow and orange vinyl tunnel, and a collapsed tunnel before the more tricky stuff. Arranged in a winding shape were the Jump, Double Jump, Panel Jump, Broad Jump, Tire Jump, Pause Box, and lastly a set of Weave Poles, three feet tall and twenty inches apart with twelve in total. The last obstacle would be the _biggest _point-taker of all, since the Weave Poles were one of the most difficult obstacles to master, despite what breed of dog entered.

When the dogs started running the course, one way or another each and every dog messed up somewhere, be it once mor several times. The biggest killer of all was either the Pause Box or the Weave Poles, since the dogs were either too riled up to pause at the box, or ended up skipping poles. For _Doc _and his bloodhound _Einstein _on the other hand, they totally _nailed _it, performing every required stunt at and _above _the judge's expecting standards, since in comparison to others this was an _amateur _show with slightly over-amateur level tricks. Of course, it wasn't _only _the coordination drilled into him by the Doom Patrol that granted Beast Boy as much coordination, agility, and dexterity as it did, but the manner in how he transformed into the various animal forms.

You see, while Beast Boy could be considered a _Changeling_, with his powers being classified as Animal Morphing, but also called Animal Shapeshifting, Faunal Morphing, or Therianthropy. This ability manifests in the ability of the user to rearrange their DNA structure into the faunal form, or animal species, of their own choosing. Some have this ability based on an empty genetic code which would allow their bodies to accept any DNA sample and use that as a template, _or _alter their forms mentally and change just by seeing and mimicking animal features, while most others would have a limited selection of predetermined animal forms, which in comparison would make Beast Boy one of the most powerful _Changelings _currently on record. Now, while he can transform into extinct species, it is only because they are descendent of a number of the _other _animal species he's capable of changing into, the Pterasaur being a descendant of modern-day birds, allowing him to transform into that or other species of extinct animal at will, even though all he had to go on were pictures, a theory behind this being the "genetic memory" that animals carry from their predecessors. On the other hand for _mythical _creatures, like dragons of varying type, griffins, hipogriphs, nagas, etc. the process was slightly more complicated than that. Since those creatures were interpreted by humans as amalgamations of numerous animal species, only those with the ability to _Shapeshift,_ the ability to alter the user's genetic and cellular structure according to mental imput, can actively transform into them, though without the physical benefits granted by a _Changeling _assuming that shape. Were a _Changeling _to meet a mythical creature, their body would still interpret the features as _false_, since sometimes creatures of magical origin did not necessarily conform to the laws of anatomy. However... it _has _been theorized that a _Changeling _could transform into a form of _alien _fauna, should they encounter it, since even though alien fauna would be much different than fauna on Earth, animals regardless of planetary origin had to share from the same pool of "answers" for the "problems" presented to them. i.e. forward-set eyes for predators to keep track of prey, and wide-set eyes to keep a lookout for predators, wings for flight, ect.

This was why when _Einstein _ran the course, that even though he wasn't a dog _originally_, the way _his _therianthropy worked was that when transforming into an animal, he did so during that animal's _prime_, or when it was at its strongest or most effective. Theoretically, regardless of what his age was, as well as he kept himself in relatively fine shape, even if he retired and had arthrisit, potentially he could still transform into a cheetah and outrun a track star. It also didn't hurt that while transformed, while he retained his human personality, he _also _possessed intimate knowledge of how the animal's body worked, knowing what muscles to tense at what moment to deal out maximum damage through the use of various animal species. The only reason he couldn't speak human tongue while in animal form is for the same reason that animals themselves cannot speak. Because from a _physical _standing point, animals lacked the ability to form the sounds required to form words like we could. Birds that imitate sound are often mistaken for _speaking_, since all that they are actually able to do is string together sounds or syllables to form words that they have heard, where the sounds or syllables had been used in chains. Give a parrot enough of a brain and it could still only squawk. Read out the dictionary for it, and it still wouldn't know what each word meant.

After the judges had compiled their results, the _tells _the judges were giving off when they looked at _Doc Brown _and _Einstein _telling that they were the preferred candidates for winning this thing, the owners were then offered the chance to have their canine companions perform any form of talent that was not the norm, or had not already been performed. Given that so far _Einstein _was a winning-favorite, nearly everyone who hadn't performed dismally to that point was eager to show their dog's special talents, but only if they had any worth mentioning. A few of the dogs scateboarded, others _sung _with their owners, while some did more mundane things like balance stuff on their heads or carry a number of tennis balls in their mouths. However, _Einstein _had apparently "lived up to his name" by playing one of the judges in a game of chess that one of the competitors happened to have on them in their satchel. While he didn't win, _Einstein _performed moves in reaction to his opponent's in a below-average level of ability, with almost _no _interference than doc other than when _Einstein _had accidentally knocked over a piece. In fact to say the judges were _shocked _would be an understatement, since all of them, even the one playing, had to rub their eyes throughout the match to make sure there weren't any hidden wires.

And so, after all the points had been tallied and the dogs were given a break so they wouldn't look dog-tired, no pun intended, for the cameras.

"**And the winner... By a landslide vote and over_whelming _scores isss... Doc Brown and his bloodhound Einstein!" **the announcer announced after opening the envelope, the crowd errupting into cheers at the display the two performed. Einstein moreso than Doc Brown, but that was fairly obvious.

"Woohoo! We won!" _Doc _cheered as he and _Einstein _started dancing in a circle excitedly. Stifling a giggle, the judge passed the brunette the three by seven foot check, probably that size so they could show it in the next day's newspaper. When the brunette took it, all he could do was ask- "Hey, where's the nearest giant bank? I need to cash this giant check," he said causing an uproar of laughter in the audience at the joke, only for a voice to interrupt the good time.

"Remove your hands from that check you damn dirty human! You haven't earned it!" a voice said from the rafters, a couple spotlights shining to the top revealing a costumed... person, overlooking the competition. The man was wearing brown spandex, black gloves, boots, and tights on the outside, a black silver-studded dog collar, and a dog-like mask over his face. In all honesty, the guy looked like a superhero version of Goofy and Scooby Doo's bastard love child. The costume looked like it was thrown together at the last minute too.

"Who the hell are you?" _Doc _asked.

"I am the one who shall liberate all of canine-kind," the figure introduced. "I am... Dogman!" he declared puffing his chest out, the audience growing quiet at the awkwardness, a cricket going off in the background.

"_Are you _shitting _me?"_ he then asked himself, not even believing criminals could get _this _weird. And he'd _faced _weird before. Just not that much. He'd only been facing "supervillains" for a week or so.

"Man has subjugated dog, and now it is _dog's _turn to subjugate _man_!" Dogman then said pulling out a chrome-colored dog whistle that more closely resembled a flute from his utility belt and blew loudly into it. While no one could hear it, Vent felt the airwaves, right around the same time all the dogs started perking their ears and acting up, the transformed Beast Boy included. "Rise my brethren! Soon _dogkind _shall be the top _dogs _once again! Mwahahahaha!" he cackled as he dropped down from a dog-themed zipline to the floor, scaring the daylights out of the panicking civilians in the face of the clearly-psychotic man-dog. As for the 20 to 30 dogs running around, they appeared to be hypnotized, herding people away from the exits while Dogman _barked _at people to hand over their wallets, watches, and jewelry.

"_Einstein_. _Einstein. _You wouldn't hurt me would you buddy?" _Doc _asked looking around expecting his transformed _-and apparently brainwashed teammate- _to be growling at him, only to spot the brown bloodhound pigging out at the leftovers at the snack table backstage. _Hope hypnotism doesn't become an _issue _for him later on, _the brunette thought before finding a discarded baton from one of the baton twirlers who had entered the contest with her Pomeranian. _Let's see if these guys still know how to play fetch, _he thought to himself as he ran to one side of the arena and brought two fingers into his mouth. "_*TWEE-EET* _HEY!" he shouted catching all the dog's attention simultaneously, Dogman's included. "FETCH!" he shouted as he threw the baton through the air in a high arc, all the dogs and Dogman _–who was running on all fours- _running after the stick before forming a massive _dog_pile, flailing limbs and bodies wriggling around as all the canines tried to get at the baton all at once.

"Woohoo! I got it!" Dogman said holding the baton above his head, not noticing _Doc _behind him with his flute-sized dog whistle in hand until it came down over his head with a loud clang, bending a bit as the costumed... thing fell over, the brunette snapping the instrument across his leg and causing the dogs to return to normal. Well, the transformed Beast Boy was still pigging out, somehow having found some _tofu-_flavored dog treats that he'd missed earlier.

_Weirdo, _the brunette thought as he pulled the leash out of his pocket and clipped it to the back of the changeling's collar before pulling him away. "Someone call the cops, or maybe the dog catcher," he said as he led his _dog _out of the building, things finally getting back in order after... _whatever _that was.

* * *

><p>At around the time that <em>Dogman <em>had made his appearance, someone had called the cops on a "costumed psycho" attacking the dog show. After this call was run by the mayor, he then called the Titans _–or at least the Titans that were present- _in case this _Dogman _proved to be dangerous. On the way there via Raven's "shadow traveling" technique, the spiky-haired teen didn't even shudder under the coldness of the mage's power due to the fact that _someone _might decide to associate this _Dogman _to _Batman_, and by proxy, _him_. When they got there however, they were colored shocked when they saw that the now unmasked _Dogman_, now wearing a straight jacket and muzzle, was being thrown into the back of a white-padded truck, probably on the way to a mental asylum, or if need be, the kennel.

"So... Dog-themed supervillain..." Raven said evenly. "What next? One themed off a couch potato?" she asked as her voice _oozed _sarcasm.

"Don't even joke like that," Cy grumbled, Raven huffing at the fact that he thought she was _serious_.

"I... don't think humans should be frothing at the mouth that much," Robin said noticing the crazed guy frothing out of his muzzle, the... man, being thrown harshly into the back of the truck and the doors slammed shut when the guy tried to escape, a siren on the top of the car going off when it drove off. _I _really _hope this guy doesn't become my _Joker_, _he then thought to himself.

"So then we are victorious?" Star asked, wondering what it was they would do since the "Dog of Man" had been taken to the "farm of funny", and there was naught to do here.

"Yeah. We kicked butt. Can we go home now?" Raven sighed, thankful she didn't have to do that much for the $1000 Vent promised her. Thinking about the kiss and the promise to take her to The Crow's Dungeon, she was thankful her hood hid her face so well. She only hoped he wouldn't use the D-word, otherwise she might lose control of her emotions entirely. It was bad enough she blew out an entire wall of monitors when Cy was gone.

"Yeah. There's nothing to do here," Robin returned, Raven willing a black raven silhouette to form over them before collapsing over itself and into the shadows.

* * *

><p>"First a monster made out of concrete, then some freaky muck monster, and now a man who thinks he's part dog," Cy counted off as they returned to the tower, the group entering the living room. "What next? A girl with the power of <em>pink<em>, a kid with a backpack that defies the laws of conservation of mass, and a guy who looks like the bastard love child of Juggernaut and Sabertooth?"

"_Really _didn't need that last image in my head," they heard Vent say from the couch as he watched TV.

"Vent, you're back," Cy said hopping onto the couch, most notably _his _seat which had a Cy-shaped indention from his "rear fender" pressed into it. The seat was just off-center to the right, and it was undeniably his. "How'd you and BB's _quest _go?"

"He's still brown, so we all know how well trying to get him back in green was," Vent returned, the channel flipping to the 2008 Incredible Hulk movie, where at the moment he had used a large piece of metal like a Frisbee to slice a humvee in half. "You know I never notice before, but aside from the ears, Beast Boy could pass for the Hulk minus the muscle tone."

"You know, I was thinking the same thing earlier but didn't want to sound stupid saying it," Cy returned, the Hulk screaming as he crushed the other humvee with the remaining piece of metal.

"How the two of you can have such in_telligent _conversations over something so trivial is beyond me," Raven said taking a seat beside Vent. If there was one thing that separated the spontaneous brunette from the just-as spontaneous Beast Boy, it was that she could sit next to him and not worry about him trying to crack a joke out of her. At least more reliably than with Beast Boy anyway. At the best of times when Starfire would sit on her other side, she didn't have to worry about Beast Boy at all. While she didn't act like it, she really did enjoy the other's company like this, though with Beast Boy trying to get rid of his new brown coloration, she wouldn't have to deal with him for the rest of the day, maybe tomorrow as well.

_This must be what heaven is like, _she thought to herself as she flipped a page, feeling something nudge her leg a moment later. Looking up from her book, then down to her leg she saw Vent with a stack of 50s hidden under his arm and trying to pass them to her. From the looks of it, it was about $2500, _more_ than double the amount he'd promised her before in the garage.

"Hey Rae," he said suddenly getting her attention.

"Yes Vent?" she asked as she looked up at him, discretely sliding the money into the folds of her cloak as he got her attention.

"I was wondering if I could take you to that depressing cafe you like so much," he offered, Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire's ears perking up at the upcoming topic. "You've been a great friend to me and I just wanted to thank you for helping me out earlier."

"Well... I guess we could go later this evening if we're not busy," Raven admitted.

"Alright then, it's a date," Vent said before flying off, something he thought doing indoors was pretty cool as he made his way to his room to get his best clothes. Meanwhile on the couch Raven's book was slammed shut and the girl's face lit up bright pink, the couch cushion next to her bursting into flame before she brought her emotions back under control.

"Oh this is most wonderful! Friend Ventus is asking friend Raven out on the _date_!" Starfire squealed with unrestrained joy as she bounced up and down and clapped her hands. "We must go to the mall of shopping post haste and buy you a new outfit for your date! Come on!"

"WaAAAIT!" Raven cried as she was suddenly plucked right out of her chair and dragged out of the room, exiting stage left leaving a shocked Robin and Cyborg.

"He's back to normal for a day and he's already taken Rae on a date?" Cy asked in surprise.

"Why am I not surprised?" Robin wondered. Still, if Raven was going to be so close to the brunette, who hadn't _officially _been declared as cured, then maybe it would be a good idea to keep an eye on the two for their date. "Cy, I'm heading out for the evening, mind watching over the Tower?"

"Place to myself with no Beast Boy? I think I can manage," Cy said digging into the video game drawer in the front of the room and began shuffling through the 360 games. As Robin left the room, Cy pressed a button labeled **TV**, the floor in front of the couch rumbling a bit before a portion of it rose up, a massive flat-screen TV rising up before the bracers locked in place. The TV was set to both rise and fall when needed, since when out of use it could be put away and allow the residents of Titans Tower to simply enjoy the view.

* * *

><p>Thanks to the wonders of flying, the two girls on the team didn't need to bother with the van and simply made a straight shot to the mall in town. Almost as soon as they entered the double doors, the two were swarmed with fans, but thankfully, mall security broke the throngs up. As long as the Titans tried to keep their battles out of the mall, or moved them outside if they started <em>in <em>the mall, then mall security would do what they could to help the Titans have _some _semblance of normalcy while shopping. A few of the store's owners even made deals with certain Titans, saying they could arrange for after-hours shopping, since during normal hours it would be next to impossible to shop casually. While Robin hadn't arranged any deals with any particular store apart from the ones that sold sports and training equipment, Beast Boy, Cy, and Ventus had arranged for deals with the video game stores around, though GameStop was their preferred stomping grounds. While Raven enjoyed reading books and wasn't really one for shopping for girly stuff, Starfire, after having things explained to her in further detail, had made most of the clothing stores her regular stomping grounds.

It was at this moment that Starfire was having Raven try on different outfits in preparation for her date with Ventus, not allowing Raven the time to say it wasn't a _date_, but that he was just taking her to The Crow's Dungeon. Somehow, it had gotten out as to what Raven was hiding under her cloak, so mall security had to form a bit of a barricade to make sure no males were anywhere near as she was changing. Anyone who tried to peek over their shoulders met the bad side of their batons. While Starfire was oblivious to the looks she was getting, Raven was all too aware of the eyes trying to get a good look at her figure without the cloak. She only hoped Beast Boy never did something like take it from her while they were on TV or anything, otherwise she may have to send the green bugger straight to Hell. Maybe add in a passing trip to Elysium to make him know what he was missing.

"Oh Raven, you look magnificent!" Star cried in happiness, a few outfits for herself piled to the side in mostly bright colors, though after what happened with her sister she stayed away from anything black, since it only acted as a painful reminder.

"Starfire, it isn't a _date_, we're just going out to have tea and maybe _chat_," Raven said coming out of the changing room. Starfire had gotten her changed into a pair of dark blue jeans, blue sneakers with white trim, a black T-shirt with a skull on the front upon Raven's recommendation when she didn't have any choice over it, and a dark blue hoodie with black trim. The only things that could connect her to Raven of the Teen Titans was the Anja Chakra on her forehead, and she had selected a dark blue bandana for just that purpose.

"But then why did friend Ventus say it was a date?" the Tamaranian girl asked.

"It was a figure of speech," Raven sighed as she threw her hood back. Looking in the mirror, if she covered her Anja Chakra she might be able to pass herself off as a normal girl. Grey-skinned, but still normal. After all there _were _all kinds of skin tones, and grey could be mistaken as pale or just ashen.

"Oh..." she said feeling completely embarrassed. She was still a bit upset at herself for the _shovel _thing at the rave a few days back, but the others said they'd help her with "Earth customs" if she asked. "Well at least you will look nice."

"Yeah..." Raven thought, remembering how the Titan's "allowance" had been worked out with the mayor. In a nutshell, the Titans were given an allowance based on the money the city saved with the amount of projected crime that had been reduced. While things like collateral damage took out of it, Robin had worked out a fair enough system for their deal. All Robin asked was that the group try to be a _little _bit frugal with their spending, otherwise people might get the idea of trying to become superheroes for the wrong reasons. Just this month Robin had to smack around a couple dozen guys who thought just because they'd won a few martial art tournaments that they could become Titans. "I'm going to head back to the tower. I need to meditate," Raven said as she closed the curtain and changed back to her original clothing, then paid for what she had bought before disappearing into the shadows, leaving the Tamaranian girl to handle herself. Starfire had learned enough "Earth customs" from Vent to know that when a guy was getting too _frisky_, that no one would fault the girl for a little bodily harm. While no one had been launched over a building "in a single kick", thankfully the guys in that town had enough sense not to come onto anyone who could toss a car ten feet into the air with only their foot.

* * *

><p>Humming <em>Teen Titans Go! <em>to himself, Vent flipped through his closet a bit before arranging two outfits on his bed. Seeing as how it was dark that night, he decided to try _Goth Vent _again, but got a backup ready just in case. Said backup consisted of a sky blue long sleeved shirt, black jeans worn at the knees, and black sneakers with red trim. Like at the dog show, he'd wear the set of wire-rimmed glasses _–which no one had made any effort to claim- _to draw attention away from his eyes.

"Hmmm... _Goth Vent _or _Casual Vent_?" he wondered, since he was apparently one of the few... _only, _Titan to dress casually on a regular basis. Thinking back on who wore what on a regular basis, only Raven and Starfire came to mind since Robin and Beast Boy's attire was _meant _to be a uniform, Cy technically being naked all the time. _Just like Frieza, _he thought. For Raven, hers was the traditional garb for the monks of Azar, though she hadn't gotten into any further detail, which he couldn't fault her for. Everyone had their secrets to keep. Next there was Starfire's choice of attire. He knew that her current outfit had been a modified version of what she wore during her stint in the Gordanian's clawed hands, but color him shocked when she told him that on Tamaran, it was considered perfectly acceptable to wear even _less _than what she was wearing now, with a lot of skin revealed to the open eyes. "I can only imagine the _swimsuit _magazines there," he thought off-handedly. While he wasn't a huge pervert or anything like that, _every _heterosexual guy was a bit of a pervert in all honesty, though he didn't go out of his way to make himself look gay or anything like that, taking the time to take _notice _of the fairer sex, just not_ too much _notice.

"Goth Vent, looks like you're getting one more shot," Vent said as he closed the curtains, not wanting to give anyone with a high-powered telescope a free show or anything like that. "After all, there must be _plenty _of guys out there who are goth, or just wear dark clothing in general," he thought to himself as he changed attire.

* * *

><p>After getting back to the Tower, Raven had <em>considered <em>just cancelling their outing to The Crow's Dungeon and stay in her room, but then remembered that Vent appeared to be truly _happy_ to be spending some time with her. She had thought with her grey skin and introverted manner that he would just keep to himself or the others, but to her surprise that didn't seem to matter to him. Like how despite how strange everyone was all he saw them as were a bunch of kids, just with their own quirks. It... actually brought a smile to her face. Thankfully not the kind that caused stuff to melt or blow up. Or melt _and _blow up.

"Raven. _**–knock knock- **_You in there?" Vent asked from the other side of her door, signaling the end of her meditation.

"I'll be out in a minute," Raven said pulling on her casual attire. For the mostpart she wore her black leotard all the time, if not to feel connected to Azar and the monks that had raised her. As for the material they were made of, it was a "family" secret, but from what she could tell, hers were of a quality above even the _best _leotards on Earth. Naturally superhero spandex and/or jumpsuits were better than anything a normal person could get, but it was a moot point. Opening the door after securing the bandana around her head, she opened the door to see _Goth Vent _standing before her, though only with a bit of a smile on his face. While black didn't necessarily suit the bright and happy persona he displayed, the attire that partially went with her own would help the two of them blend in and hopefully not get discovered, hence the reason she liked dark corners. "You look nice."

"Yeah. Figured I'd give _Goth Vent _a try," he returned, just in a slightly downcast voice. Raven mentally chuckled at how much he emulated his _Goth _persona, thinking that rather instead of his personality being _unstable_, it was more... flexible, than most. Azar knew _Robin _could loosen up a bit, and did he wear that same mask 24/7 or just alternate masks?

"Well, let's get going," she said finding herself extending her hand to him, which he took more sedatively than he would've. After a short incantation, the shadows at her feet swallowed the two of them up before evaporating into the floor, taking the two of them into the darkest corner of The Crow's Dungeon that she knew of. The way _that _aspect of her powers worked was that she actually had to _see _the place she was going to, so she never had to worry about another person being there, since she could just appear at a different "drop point."

"Well, we're here. Where do you want to sit?" she asked as the two of them stepped out from behind the bookshelf's shadows. The walls were painted blue at the front closest to the door and windows, fading into black as you got further into the back of the store. The back left corner was a reading area of sorts with the cafe towards the front on the left. The rest of the store had books of varying types, getting darker in both color and context as you got further back into the darkness. Poetic if you thought about it.

"Anywhere's fine," Vent said running his finger along some of the book's spines as they passed. "How about I buy something for you after this. I feel like getting something for myself too, but I just thought I'd offer if you were interested."

"Sure... I guess..." Raven returned, never having anyone offer to buy her something before. _Then again I've kept to myself for the past couple months, so I guess that's to be expected_, she said leading them to a pair of chairs in the corner with a circular table at their feet, the menu in clear view while they themselves weren't. "Got anything in mind yet?" she asked.

"Guess I'll have the coffee and maybe a small coffee cake. You?"

"Green tea. I ate before we came here," she stated. "Actually, I'll have the coffee cake too."

"Alright..." Vent said pushing himself to his knees, Raven noting that instead of just hopping up he seemed to put some effort into it. "I'll be back in a minute," he said heading to the counter and ordering their drinks and snacks. After a few minutes he came back with tray in hand, taking care not to spill the tea, coffee, or tip over their snacks. Setting it down on the table, he blew into his cup before taking a sip, easing back into his seat and practically _soaking _in the darkness. "So... How was your day?"

"Fine. Didn't have to do much," she stated taking a sip of her tea.

"I see..." Vent returned, calmly munching on his coffee cake and taking care not to spill any crumbs on his pants. For the next few minutes the two didn't say much, occasionally looking up as if to vilify that the other was there, only to get back to their food. After a few minutes Vent had finished his coffee cake and washed it down with his coffee, which Raven noted oddly enough that he took with salt, one of his quirks he supposed. "Well... This is nice. Nice place to sit, hanging out with my best friend-"

"Hold on, I thought you said _Star _was your best friend," Raven stated with a raised eyebrow, not wanting to be caught saying Star_fire _for obvious reasons.

"I did. I just never said she was my _only _best friend," Vent returned, Raven raising an eyebrow until she realized there really wasn't an established criteria for _how _many "best friends" one could have.

"Well then, if that's the case how many best friends to you have?" she asked sipping her tea.

"Five," he said with a smile holding up five fingers. "You, B, Rob, Cy, and Star. You're all the most important people in my life to me... _The only ones I have left..."_ he trailed off looking into the bottom of his cup, swirling the grounds a bit before setting it down. "So, what kind of book do you want to get? My treat," he said leaning forward in a relaxed posture.

The mage in question was about to ask him what he meant by them being _The only ones he had left_, but figured he'd tell her when he was ready. "Nothing particular in mind. Something that I don't have now. What about you?" she asked as she mentally filed that last tidbit away for future reference, a pinprick in the iron wall that kept the brunette's secrets away from the others formed with that little tidbit of information.

"Heard of a new zombie apocalypse book a while back. Thought I'd get that," he said as he and Raven got up, the two scouring the bookshelves with no clear goal in mind other than what they were going to buy. After a while the mage found a nice vampire novel, though _not _that Twilight trash that had been circulating for the past couple years. Real vampires did _not _cry much, don't ask how she knew, otherwise she'd send you _straight _to Hell. As for Vent, he found the book he was looking for, as well as the sequel. The first was titled **FEED**, the paperback ash grey, close to white, written in blood, a crude signal strength symbol above also drawn in blood. The second was titled **DEADLINE**, the cover of the paperback a light blue like a hospital wall, a blipping pulse like you'd see on a cardiograph drawn in red though not in blood. Both appeared to be written by an author named Mira Grant, and the mage considered asking to borrow the two books when he had finished reading them. She was always looking for a good, dark read.

"So, you want to stay here for a bit and read, or head home?" the brunette asked after paying for the three books out of his own pocket, the mage looking over his shoulder _–a little tricky since he was at least a head taller than her- _to see an employee setting up a mic and a few candles.

"... It's open mic night. Feel like sharing?" Raven wondered looking up from the book Vent bought her. The brunette seemed to think about it, then simply nodded his head, the sun setting in the distance out of sight. While the world grew dark, it quickly turned bright again as the innumerable amount of lights in the city went up.

"So... This deal with poetry?" he asked as the two sat down.

"That or something dark," she answered, turning the other way when the guy who asked her about _show tunes_ the other evening came up to the stand, groaning something out about monsters from outer space with tentacles.

"... I may have something. Give me a minute," the brunette stated leaning his head back and closing his eyes in thought. Raven took the time to wonder if _this _was the real him, and if the person normally seen around the _Tower _was just a mask, but then realized, why limit the kind of person he was to two facets. Maybe he was a little mix of everything.

_I guess I'll know after hearing him out, _she thought. Overall the people who talked at open mic night talked about the same, dark things, with only the _hardcore _Goths really contributing anything. Sitting on the stool, the brunette rested an elbow on his knee and his chin on his fist, not really bothering to check the mic before he started.

**"Humans... We're very foolish, very hypocritical creatures,"** he started out ominously into the mic, the candles behind him flickering behind him as though a breeze had just come by. **"We claim good intentions, sometimes raising others up on _pedestals _with good intentions, but behind it all, we all wear masks. However..."** he said as the candles flickered behind him, the mage swearing she could see his eyes glowing silver behind his closed lids.** "Which mask is real? There's the mask that _hides _your face, and the one that _is _your face. Maybe that's something we insignificant humans... just aren't meant to know,"** he said as the candles suddenly went off behind him all at once, the brunette on the chair ominously gone from his stool when the light was cast back on the impromptu stage. For a moment everything was silent, the store employee lighting a few of the candles while looking for the hooded Goth, only to find none. After a moment, a few of the people just started clapping at a solemn place, some wondering if that guy was even there at all. Were _they _even there? It was all part of the unending search for answers.

_"So, you feel like sharing?"_ Vent suddenly asked from behind her, the surprise she felt causing the candles on stage to go out again, a few people looking around warily wondering if The Crow's Dungeon was haunted. Some were making plans to bring cameras and find out.

_"How did..."_ she asked wondering how he'd gotten behind her without making a sound. She obviously knew how he put out the candles, but not getting behind her so quickly. _"No, not really,"_ she amended. _"Come on, let's go home,"_ she said holding out her hand, which he took with a light squeeze, the girl finding herself squeezing back as she chanted her incantation before the two evaporated into the shadows.

* * *

><p>"Well Vent... I had fun tonight," Raven said as they arrived at her door, which Vent was kind enough to escort her to after they got back to the tower via "Shadow Warp".<p>

"Yeah, me too," he said rubbing the back of his head, having thrown his hood back and loosened back into his "regular" persona, making Raven wonder just how much he thought into those words he spoke on the stand before he "vanished". For a minute the two of them remained in silence, simply standing there not knowing what to say, or even when to split up.

"Hey um... Vent, I was wondering if..." Raven said nervously twirling a loch of hair around her finger.

"YES! BOO-YAH!" Beast Boy's voice suddenly cried as he ran down the hall, clad in a towel and green as the day he was born, or... not. "Beast Boy's back in green! Ye-he-es!" he whooped before noticing the hall's other two occupants. "Vent, Rae, when'd you two get back? And what's with all the dark colors?" the greenette wondered while Raven just looked away in exasperation, the moment having been completely _killed _when she didn't need it. It was at this time that she was debating whether or not to send him to Hell in one piece or not. That or whether it'd be head-first or feet-first, and yes it did make a difference as to which one.

"Oh, just going out. Well, _went _out actually. You know what I mean," Vent returned while Raven simply opened her door to and closed it behind her.

"Oh, well that's cool. Now, if you'll excuse me I have to rub this in Cy's smug face, hahaha," Beast Boy whooped as he headed back towards his room, leaving Ventus on his own and Raven's door.

"Well, guess I'll head back to my room," the brunette said seeing as how the mage was gone, turning around and heading to his room before he was suddenly pulled back a bit, the whooshing of a door accompanied by a soft kiss on the cheek being the only thing to alert him that Raven had left her room before closing the door back behind her again. "... Uh, good night Raven," Vent said rubbing his cheek as he left, feeling his face heat up a bit.

* * *

><p>It was later that evening, and the Titans were all off doing their own thing to round up a <em>relatively <em>uneventful day. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing against one another and others across the net in Brawl, Star was watching since she wanted to play too, especially after feeling left out after Blackfire's visit, and Raven was sitting in the corner of her room reading the book that Vent had bought for her, currently at the part where the protagonist was creeping toward the sleeping nosferatu with weapon in hand.

At the moment, Vent was standing in the middle of the darkened Evidence Room, a spotlight from above shining down on him and the pedestal in the middle he was staring intently at, its contents unmoved for the half-week he'd been out of it. Staring at the silver Navy Zippo lighter, the black marks on its perforated lighter casing standing out against its gleaming surface, he thought with crossed arms how something as insignificant as a refillable lighter could represent so much. He'd been assured that there would be enemies only _he_'d be able to fight, and that he'd be able to do so well, but with everything that was going on, he couldn't help but be worried. It was only by _chance _he'd stumbled across that FMA wiki page, and after reading the words _oxygen density_, he thought he'd finally found his clutch move. However... we all know how well that turned out.

"Still thinking about the other day, huh?" a pointed silhouette said from the light entrance before he stepped into the darkness, and then into the light beside him.

"Yeah... Sorry for snapping. I guess I kinda got caught up in practicing, that I started to lose myself," he sighed.

"So... How're you holding out?" Robin asked, though a bit disappointed in himself for being unable to observe the two's _date _in further detail due to him having to _drive _to the site, but not without finding a convincing disguise to use. All he'd been able to catch was the end, and what the brunette spoke didn't really _inspire _confidence for his sanity. It was like the guy could go 180 at the drop of a pin between happy, serious, dark, and homicidal.

"Fine. Thumbs a bit sore, but the shrapnel cuts are completely healed. Heh, who knew Raven was a White Mage?" he asked scratching the side of his cheek, earnng a confused look from Robin at the _White _part. "Don't you play any video games?"

"Not enough to get an... _obscure,_ reference, like that," the Boy Wonder returned with crossed arms.

"Hmmm... I _wonder _what Raven would look like in a white robe and leotard," the teen then thought to himself, but then shook it off. He didn't need Robin thinking he was on the team for the wrong reasons. "Well, it'll probably be a while before I ever try _Flame Alchemy _again. For the time being, mind if I leave this here?" he asked motioning to the salamander-marked Zippo.

"As long as all the other slots don't fill up, I think it'll be fine," Robin returned.

"You know, I have to ask, where do you get all your gadgets?" the brunette then asked as the two began leaving the room. "I _know _a high-density polymerized titanium cape isn't something you pick up at the corner store, and those bird-themed gadgets of yours can't _not _be custom works either, otherwise there would be a leak to the open market," he said as he started digging in his pockets.

"That's privy information you don't need to know," Robin returned a bit defensively.

"Eh. Couldn't hurt to ask," the brunette said with a shrug of his shoulders, before pulling a piece of folded paper from his pocket and flattening it out. "If it isn't too _much_ to ask, think you could ask whoever made your cape to make something like Roy's ignition-cloth gloves?" he asked handing the paper to Robin. "I think crushed flint at the fingertips of the thumb, middle, and index fingers would be the key to making a good spark."

"Why not just go back to the lighter?" Robin asked, noticing a few sketches for the "ignition-cloth" gloves on the paper, as well as a detailed circle featuring runes and a salamander off to the side.

"Ease of use I guess. I could fumble with a lighter for a few seconds, or I could just _snap_ off explosions once my control improves. Personally, I think the latter would be better," Vent returned.

"... I'll run this by my friend," Robin said folding the paper and sticking it in his pocket. "I'm not making any promises though."

"Never asked," the brunette quipped. "Though if your friend can't make me the gloves, think you could get me the materials?"

"I'll... think on it," Robin thought, deciding to wait and see whether or not Ventus was _sane _enough to wield something as powerful as Roy's Flame Alchemy out in the real world, should he gain that kind of control over oxygen density. The thought of a crazed psychopath _literally _snapping off explosions wherever he pleased wasn't too appealing to him, and if his wit _didn't _die with insanity, he might even put the Joker to shame.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Dogman is a minor or "third-tier" villain who is to dogs as Control Freak is to "couch potatoeing". Whether he does or doesn't make any more appearances is doubtful. If anything he'll be a bit character like Dr. Light. I do not own **_**FEED **_**or **_**DEADLINE**_** by Mira Grant, both of which I heard about from a friend in my Aerospace classes.**

**Author's Note:  
>Did a little research on dog shows. The rest is just conjecture. Also, this isn't turning into a Raven OC fic, or at least not yet. I just felt like being creative on their outing. Also, Twilight has <em>ruined <em>my image of vampires, through the hype mind you, I never picked up a book.**


	7. Hype

In a flash of static, a school crest suddenly appeared on the monitor. The field was hexagonal, black-and-white checkered within a golden border, with a large **H **superimposed on it in gold script. Across the bottom was a white banner that read **H.A.E.Y.P. **Behind the crest, a square corridor could be seen, the walls, ceiling, and floor made of honeycomb-shaped tiles.

"**The HIVE Academy for Extraordinary Young People is proud to introduce..."** a cool female voice narrated as a platform rose up into view in front of the crest, three individuals now standing before it. One was a very short bald boy in a black jumpsuit, a pair of goggles propped on his forehead and an assorted array of controls mounted at chest and waist level. Behind him was a very tall beefy fellow with collar-length brown hair and a small beard. His sleeveless shirt and pants were black and studded with gold bands across his chest and ran around his shoulders, as well as studded gold wristbands and golden-cast shoes like an elephant's. Off to the right of the two or the viewer's left was a slim girl in an off-the-shoulder black dress trimmed with blue ruffles, black-and-blue striped stockings, and black platform shoes with blue soles. Her pink hair was bound into two large horn-like tufts that stuck up from her ears and matching her cat-like eyes. Her skin was a light grey shade, and she had a small pendant hung from a black ribbon around her throat. **"This year's top graduates..."** the female voice narrated as the three leapt from the platform, the big one and the girl leaving the frame to the sides as the camera zoomed in on the runt. **"Gizmo- The boy genius whose intellect can conquer any problem with an inventive solution,"** the voice narrated as Gizmo pressed a button on his chest, a pair of large steel wings sprouting from the bpack on his back as he took flight. As laser cannons popped out of the tiles on the walls, the boy genius easily dodged them before pressing another button, the disk making up the back of his pack releasing a salvo of missiles that destroyed all their targets with remarkable efficiency. **"Jinx- The enchanting sorceress whose powerful hexes mean bad luck for her enemies,"** the voice stated as the girl now came into the frame's view, the girl extending her arms to both sides and did a 360 twirl, four large panels from the walls falling out and crushing a quarted of white and black-trimmed robots that were coming for her, the sorceress backflipping down the corridor a short distance. As three large laser cannons rose out from the floor, the giant suddenly dropped down and bent the barrel as though it were nothing but a piece of taffy. **"And Mammoth- The genetically enhanced giant whose unstoppable strength speaks for itself,"** the woman spoke as he tore the laser cannon from its morring and performed an Olympic-style hammer throw, the laser cannon skidding down the hall and wrecking the other two. A robot like the one form before then caught the huge man in its hands, but Gizmo leapt onto its back and attacked a small metal unit, which screwed itself down. Leaping away, sparks began to fly across the robot's frame before it fell over. **"Well-organized, highly trained, and combat equipped..." **the voice narrated as Jinx ran to Mammoth and sprung off his hands as she began to perform a series of flips down the corridor. **"These new HAEYP agents are the perfect fighting force,"** she narrated, pronouncing the word "Hype" as a battery of lasers emerged from the walls and began to cut loose at Jinx, the sorceress gymnastically advancing forward, all of the laser cannons hitting one another in an attempt to hit her. Surveying the damage in triumph, she then faced the front as Gizmo and Mammoth slid to either side of her. **"And for the right price, this ideal team can be yours,"** the narrator finished, the screen giving way to static before a gray-haired woman stepped in front of the monitor, wearing a view-sever dark outfit with a hexagonal gold patch on her right sleeve.

"Well, Mr. Slade?" the woman asked.

"Impressive. Truly," the man spoke from the shadows. "However, robots and obstacle courses only prove so much. My plans demand operatives who can function in the _real _world," he said getting up from his seat, the woman following him as he made his way across the catwalk behind his shadowed throne. "If your students are going to serve me, they will have to pass one final exam," he said as he ascended to a platform overlooking the gray-haired woman under one spotlight, while Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth all stood on the other. "Destroy the Teen Titans, and _then _we'll talk."

"Will that be all?" the woman asked.

"These two," he said pointing to a monitor with both Robin and Ventus' likeness on them. "Leave them enough in one piece to recover later, and you'll receive a healthy bonus," Slade said in a tone that said, _"I don't care one way or the other. Just complete the primary objective, and the secondary if you are able, god forbid you make _me _happy." _With a bow the woman and her three students left, the light sources shutting off as the two factions went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>"Aw man, come on!" Cy groaned as he looked around the living room for something, the entire place trashed and the counter piled high with dirty dishes, garbage strewn across the floor. "It's <em>gotta <em>be around her someplace!" he said as he looked behind the couch, Beast Boy looking around in bloodhound form as the cyborg hoisted the couch and shook it as though whatever he was looking for were on the underside. "I don't believe this! How could you lose the remote?"

"What makes you so sure _I _lost it?" Beast Boy whined under the accusation.

"Uh... 'cause you're _you_."

"Hey! Just because I lost that video game-"

"-and the toothpaste, and my football, and the waffle iron," he counted off.

"Things disappear. How am I supposed to know where they go?" he asked, the two's mindless conversation to lower her book, an annoyed look in her eyes as a vein started to throb in her temple.

"Well how am I supposed to watch TV without a _remote_?" Cy demanded.

"Simple. You get off your ass, and change the channel," Raven said in an icy tone as she slammed her book shut. _Azar it's too early in the morning for this._

"Don't even _joke _like that," Cy said in a completely serious tone.

"I _wasn't _joking," Raven growled.

"Good, 'cause it wasn't _funny_! Now either help us look for the remote, or go back to your nasty old book and-"

"This is a _pointless _argument over an _equally _useless device. You are wasting your energy, and disrupting my concentration" the mage growled in return.

"I'm telling you, I didn't lose it! _You _were the one watching TV last!" BB cried at Cy, the sliding doors in the back of the room opening at that moment.

"And that is the secret to traveling faster than light," Starfire finished as she, Vent, and Robin came into the room.

"That's cool and all, but doesn't really to me much good outside an oxygen-rich atmosphere," the brunette huffed. "Dude! What happened in here? This place is a _pig_ _sty_!" he cried out as he took notice of the mess.

"So if you want to blame someone, look in the _mirror_, buddy!" Beast Boy growled having ignored Vent's statement.

"Woah! Take it easy Titans! Combat practice is this afternoon," Robin said trying to defuse the situation, whereas he was thinking. _I tell these guys again and again, clean up when the mess is small. Not wait until everything gets like _this_, _he thought looking around the messy room. If _anyone _saw their living area like this, they'd never hear the end of it. God forbid _Bats _saw it- The man kept _his _HQ absolutely _spotless_, but as the Tower command center was now, it was hardly fit to _live _in, let alone give out orders from.

"We must mend your dispute by sharing the unhealthy junk foods. I shall fetch them," Starfire said heading to the kitchen, Vent following as well as to not have to look at the mess. Though the kitchen was also a mess, it was the lesser of two evils.

"I don't need _food_! I just need help finding the _remote_!" Cy cried as Star and Vent looked into the fridge, the latter nearly hurling at the sight of all the blue-covered food. Looking to one part of the fridge where a wheel of cheese sat however however, a portion of the moldy, blue-furred mass suddenly rose up, forming a sloppily-made maw and screeched at them.

"AHHHH! KILL IT WITH _FIRE_!" both Starfire and Vent cried before they fired their spherical projectile attacks into the fridge, the resultant explosion nearly covering the entire living room in blue furry mold.

"Okay that is _not, normal_!" Vent cried, making reference to the living mold that had once inhabited their fridge.

"... Maybe we should just go out for pizza," Robin stated as a bit of furry blue food sloughed off one of his spiky locks, which he swore shrieked when it hit the floor, as he stood frozen in the midst of the other three as they tried to kill one another. Stomping it down for good measure, he called for the tower's cleanup crew to deal with the... mess, in the tower, while they went out to eat. After they got cleaned up of course.

* * *

><p>After their little... incident, in the kitchen, the Titans headed out to the Pizza Corner resturant, the very same place that Star had nearly wrecked completely when she arrived at planet Earth. They'd called in the biohazard squad later since blue furry food that <em>moved <em>was _definitely _not normal, and they didn't have the qualifications to handle potentially dangerous materials. At the moment the majority were arguing about what to get at the pizza joint near where Star first touched down, leaving a certain brunette to think-

_Is it really that hard to get three medium pizzas and split them in half? _he asked himself as everyone continued to argue over how to split an Extra Large six ways.

"Double pepperoni!" Cy cried out as Raven rubbed her temples, Vent hiding in the menu's folds out of sheer embarrassment.

"I'm _not _eating _meat_!" Beast Boy cried in protest.

"There's no meat in pepperoni!" Cy argued, not knowing that at that very moment, a person looking at them through a scanner was placing green crosshairs over their heads, the words _**INITIATE MISSION **_flashing red from the bottom.

"Gizmo to Jinx. Begin Phase One," Gizmo said to Jinx who was cupping her ear, receiving the transmission via hidden radio and carelessly tossing a hex bolt at the bus, causing it to roll downhill. The horn going off, the Titans stood up from their arguing, the sound of a baby crying from the ground level at the crosswalk eliciting a shocked gasp from Beast Boy.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as the Titans immediately sprung into action, Starfire pushing the carriage out of the way while Cyborg, Raven, and Ventus planted themselves in the vehicle's path. Reaching him, Cy held the bus back with his massive while Vent deeply inhaled before blasting a gale-force wind at the bus, Raven's magic pulling the gearshift lever into **Park **from **Neutral.** At that moment the bus' tires screeched as it slowed, the group finally bringing the bus to a stop with only a foot of space between them, Vent's body relaxing from potentially pulling Raven out of the way.

"Um... Don't buses normally have drivers?" Cy said looking inside to find that the bus was empty.

"And don't baby carriages normally have _babies_?" Robin asked pulling a dark green-furred teddy bear with light green eyes out from said baby's typical occupancy.

"Are you pit-sniffers normally this _stupid_?" a condescending voice suddenly asked from the bear as its head swiveled around, laser beams from its eyes sending Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire sent flying into an alleyway with a trail of smoke behind them. Meanwhile at the bus, the mode of mass transit suddenly seemed to tilt back on its rear wheels, Cy was completely flabbergasted before the thing came down on top of them, Vent wrapping his arm around Raven's waist and _air dashing, _releasing vents of air from his free hand and feet to get out of the way of the blast. "And then there were two," the same voice from the teddy bear said in the form of a short bald midget as Vent set Raven down, both of them getting into a fighting stance as Robin and Starfire joined them.

"This isn't over yet!" Robin returned, Cy's sonic cannon sending the bus flying to one side as he climbed out.

"We're _just _getting started," the cybrog said with a clenched fist as he leapt out of the hole.

"Who _are _these guys?" Beast Boy asked tossing a banana peel off his forehead.

"We are the HIVE!" Gizmo answered.

"You're worst nightmare!" Mammoth added.

"And _this _is Attack Pattern: Alpha," the pinkette finished.

"Okay, I make cheesy references to video games and anime all the time and even _I _know that was- Oh shit!" the brunette cried as the midget took to the air and started firing laser rounds at him, which he and the others dodged as they split off to fight their own enemies.

"What do you call an idiot with a rocket on his back?" Mammoth asked as he grappled Cy in equal strength earning a- "Huh?" -in return

"Doomed!" Gizmo cackled as he slapped a large grey rocket onto Cy's back, which ignited and sent him careening to the sky. Calling out his name, Star suddenly took off into the sky after him, the rocket changing direction and heading north too fast for her to catch it initially, effectively taking her out of the fight. At the same time, Jinx came at Raven with a jumping spin kick, the mage dodging two more strikes before countering with a backhand.

"You fight like a boy," she smirked as she blocked the attack.

"Guess what? So do I?" Vent asked getting between both her and Raven from above with only inches to spare, a compressed ball of air in his hands as he released the attack on her stomach and sent the pink-haired sorceress flying straight into Gizmo, but not before he nailed Robin in the chest and sent him to the ground as he and BB rushed them from down the street. Transforming into an elephant mid-stride, Beast Boy rushed at them only for Mammoth to suddenly hoist the transformed changeling into the air over his shoulders.

"Mammoth's gonna make you extinct!" the large teen laughed as he suddenly chucked the pachyderm at the mage and the aerokinetic, the prior returning the favor for earlier by pulling _him _out of the way, Beast Boy rolling across the ground after returning to normal, Robin running up and helping him up while the other three gained some distance.

"Is it just me, or are we getting our butts kicked?" Beast Boy asked.

"It's just you," Vent and Raven replied.

"Listen up team, I have a plan," Robin said helping the changeling up. At that moment however, two blasts from Gizmo suddenly sent Beast Boy and Raven flying, leaving Robin and Vent to face the three HIVE studends on their own.

"Gee scum-buffer. Sure hope your fancy plan includes getting _fried_!" Gizmo cackled as his laser cannon leveled itself at Robin and Vent, the two standing their ground and sharing looks that were only separated by the prior's domino mask.

"You'll just have to find out the hard way," Robin said holding a hand out to the trio, making a _"bring it on" _motion.

"Heh. Show me your moves!" Vent smirked pounding a fist into his hand and assumed a fighting stance with his back to Robin's. At that moment Gizmo's weapon tilted down and impacted the street, a long crack appearing on the asphalt as Jinx landed on her knees and threw a spell that widened the fissure, Mammoth leaping through the air with a mighty yell and bringing all his weight down on the fault line, the three-way combo causing the road to be blasted open into a wide chasm. While Vent was able to leap into the air and take flight before the ground was taken out from under him, Robin wasn't as fortunate, tumbling into the darkness beneath Jump City.

"Robin!" Beast Boy cried out before falling to the ground and holding his knee. Something that wasn't missed by the brunette.

"Raven, take Beast Boy to the tower. I'll watch your backs and meet up with you later," Vent said facing against the three, Raven helping the injured changeling off the street as the brunette faced off against the three of them, oddly enough resembling Cy's prediction of who the next villains they faced would be. "So who do I fight first? The girl with the power of pink, the kid whose backpack defies the law of conservation of mass, or the Juggernaught and Sabertooth's bastard love child that they had to banish to another dimension from the Marvel Universe in order to hide their forbidden love?" he asked trying to egg any of the three on into making a mistake. While the two prior didn't take it that way, the second actually taking his statement as a _compliment, _the third's reaction was-

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"

Predictable.

"HRAAAH!" he cried leaping into the air at the brunette, who only flew up and away from him. When the teen realized where he was, he quickly whirled around and tried both flying and swimming back to the others, only to drop like a stone into the water below.

"And then there were two," Vent said condescendingly as he reclined in mid-air and examined his nails. The pinkette growled at the blatant insult he had given them, firing a salvo of _hexbolts _at the brunette who only dropped down out of the way while leaving his reclined position. After avoiding that attack, the water beneath him began to gurgle upwards before Mammoth shot out of the sewer water, completely drenched as he lunged at Vent, the brunette simply flying forward a bit and using his head as a springboard before kicking off him and leaping over Jinx and Gizmo, settling onto the latter's back with child-like curiosity. "Ooooooo! What's _this _button do?" he asked as he plucked the video game controller off his chest that resembled a Gamecube controller and started fiddling with the joystick and buttons.

"Ah! Hey! Get off my back you cludge-head!" Gizmo cried as he tried to reach around to his back, the brunette giggling like a child as he made his robot legs stomp around randomly before running off in an odd direction, then taking to the side of a building and climbing skyward like a giant spider. "Jinx! Get this scuz-monkey off my back!" he cried as he tried to wrest back control, only for the brunette to hold the conroller out of his admitedly-short reach each time.

"Ooooooo! What's _this _button do?" he asked pulling on another controller and began tapping buttons, the legs folding back in causing the two to free-fall from losing their foothold, Jinx's hexbolts blasting the window they were at before scattering shards of glass. As they fell, the midget screamed madly before his wings folded out of his back, the two flying off wildly before they hit the ground. "WEEEEEEE!" the brunette cheered as he continued to zip through the air, Jinx's hex bolts missing each time as the brunette seemed to dodge out of the way when she fired where she _thought _they'd be by the time her shots got there.

"Oooogh. My aching head," Mammoth groaned as he finally pulled himself onto the street. "What the-" his eyes widening when the screaming Gizmo was sent flying right at him with the force of a missile, unable to change course as the brunette had plucked the controller plug right out of its socket before dropping back to the street, sending the two falling down into the sewers once again. "Hiiiii pinky," he brunette then said waving a hand at her playfully with a wide smile.

_Is this guy _mental_? _Jinx found herself wondering, the remaining Titan acting like a _kid _as he completely trounced both Mammoth and Gizmo. Given, she was more skilled than the both of them, but that was still impressive even for her. "Alright tough guy, let's see you fight _me _now!" she said as she lunged at him and opened with a plethora of punches and kicks, all her moves releasing hexbolts in an attempt to give him a little bad luck, only for them to be redirected each time by the brunette's hands, elbows, and knees. _He's dodging every hit! I can't lay a _finger _on him! What kind of incredible mental discipline has this guy _gone _through?_ she asked herself as the duel stretched out.

_Pat a cake, Pat a cake, baker's MAN, bake me a cake as fast as you CAN! _he sung to himself as he more forcibly knocked one of the girl's arms out of the way before flying off the end of a compressed air fist. "Good effort, but I'm the pat a cake champion."

"... What?" she asked with a deadpanned expression.

"Rankyaku!" the brunette cried out as he kicked his leg up and sent a sickle-shaped wave of air at Jinx, the sorceress launching a duo of hexbolts at the attack and causing it to dissipate into a soothing breeze. The next moment Gizmo was chucked into the air by mammoth, the midget firing a missile at the brunette. Said brunette quickly formed a thick bubble of air in front of himself, the missile stopping mid-flight as its afterburner continued to sputter, the aerokinetic sending it flying into the sky above where it exploded harmlessly.

"Hm. You're pretty skilled," Jinx said panting slightly. "No _wonder _he wanted you in one piece."

"_He_? Who's _he_?" the brunette asked.

"Let us take you in and you'll find _out _windbag," the midget cackled as he wrung the water off his clothes.

"Ne, you wanna _capture_ me, you'll have to _catch _me first," he said as he began to knead a ball of air into his hand, slightly larger than a bowling ball as he headed for a piece of stable asphalt. Tossing it onto the ground and standing on one foot with his other leg crossed, he began to speed off around the entire block like he were riding his air scooter, using walls and debris as platforms and confounding the three teens before veering off and rode into the distance yammering, "Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk," in a perfect imitation of Curly.

"Uh, he got away," Mammoth stated finally pulling himself up.

"I CAN SEE THAT!" Jinx hissed. "Still, this battle isn't over yet. After all…" she said turning to the left, Titans Tower visible in the distance. "We know where they live."

* * *

><p>"That didn't just happen..." Beast Boy said as Raven lead him towards one of the chairs in the main entrance of Titans Tower. "Tell me that didn't just happen," he repeated as she set him down, the changeling rubbing his sore leg.<p>

"It _did _happen. We cannot change the truth, no matter how much we dislike it," Raven said as her hands were enveloped in blue and white-laced healing energy, waves of energy rolling into his leg and healing the damage.

"Who knew we had a doctor in the house? Thanks," Beast Boy returned with a smile.

"No problem," Raven returned as she got up and dusted off her robe. "Vent. Vent are you there?" she asked into her T-Communicator.

"Fine... Fine... I'm heading back to the Tower now," Vent said on the other end. "I... found something at the plaza. When the others get back, have them meet up at the entrance. I need to speak to everyone together."

"... That doesn't sound good," Raven said shutting the comm. device.

"Maybe y'all should call me _Fly_borg," Cyborg said as he and Starfire then entered the lobby. "I was halfway to Gotham City before Star zapped that thing off my back. So what'd I miss?" he asked, the mage unable to meet his eyes. "Tell me how we kicked their butts. Come on. I gotta have the play-by-play," he said itching for the story.

"Where is Robin?" Starfire asked looking around. "Where is Ventus?"

"Vent is... on his way back," Beast Boy answered. "As for Robin... We're not sure," he said scratching the back of his head.

"Not sure?" Star gaped. "Why are you not-"

"I searched everywhere. After the fight," Vent said as he entered the lobby, having just gotten back from looking for Robin after the HIVE kids left. "This was all I was able to find," he said reverently as he held out Robin's utility belt, Starfire gasping in horror while Cyborg groaned and clapped his hands to his forehead.

"I shoulda been there. I let that kid sneak up on me and-what was I-? It was a trap, and I-I shoulda known," Cy groaned out.

"I do not understand. How could you not _find _him?" Starfire demanded of him. "People do not just vanish! He has to be someplace, so go back there and look!" she shouted with voice raising as she pointed the brunette out the door.

"Easy Star. Come on, this is Robin we're talking about," Beast Boy said stepping between her and the brunette. "I'm sure he's fine. He'll probably turn up any second," he said before the door mechanism began to kick in. "Awesome timing."

"Robin!" Starfire cheered as she flew towards the door before landing, ready to welcome Robin back with open arms only for a sudden explosion to send her flying back. When the dust cleared, the Titan's eyes widened as Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth, the latter two looking a bit soggy, entered the base.

"Oh no," Beast Boy gaped.

"Oh _yes_," Jinx said with a smirk as her eyes landed on Vent, not really appreciating how much of a fool he made her look to anyone who may've been watching.

"You guys got _lucky_ last time, but you're in _our _house now!" Cy growled up as he and the others formed up to meet the advancing trio.

"Yeah, nice place. We'll take it!" Gizmo smirked, Raven throwing a trio of chairs in the HIVE's direction while Starfire tossed several starbolts from overhead.

"Split up!" Cy said firing his cannon, knowing that even if they _could _beat the more team-coordinated group, that a fight in there may cause irreparable damage to the tower. While Cy went off on his own with Ventus and Starfire offering suppression fire, Raven and Starfire headed up the stairs, whereas Vent accompanied Beast Boy.

"Crap oh crap oh crap oh crap! Running running running running!" Vent cried as he and Beast Boy ran down the hallway they'd led Jinx towards, the prior leaping out of the way of the falling architecture with his natural agility while the latter had assumed the form of a bobcat and leapt around each slab of metal.

"Here kitty kitty. What's the matter? Afraid of a little bad luck?" Jinx asked as wall panels blew out as they fought.

Elsewhere, Raven and Starfire had just flown into the gym and closed the door behind them, the latter welding the door shut. Looking back to one another with a nervous look, wondering if the barricade would hold, they suddenly whirled round when the wall blew out behind them, throwing them to the floor. Looking up, they found Mammoth's head protruding from a freshly-made hole after delivering the mother of all headbutts.

"Hello, ladies," the veritable juggernaught taunted before lunging at them. Elsewhere Cy had found his way into one of the storage rooms of the Tower. Things were mostly dark, but the tiny terror had begun talking to him from the electronic screens, foreboding words of taking him apart leaving the little brat's lips before he descended towards him. Elsewhere in the tower, things had finally settled down as Beast Boy and Ventus had retreated into one of the higher tiers, wall and ceiling panels having remained where they were for the past few minutes.

"Phew. Lost her," BB said catching his breath.

"Dammit Beast Boy you did not just say-"

"Hi guys."

"Hi pinkie," he said before whirling around to face Jinx, who had just made her presence known. "FUUU-"

"This just _isn't _your lucky day," she said shucking a hexbolt at the ceiling.

"-UUUCK!" Vent cried as a tile hit him and Beast Boy over the head, his catching him right at the end of his swear. Rubbing his head, Beast Boy then growled before transforming into a T-rex, roaring with enough force to shake the entire building as Jinx backflipped out of the way. Tossing a glowing glance at the two, a ring of pink fire then went off in a circled around the two, a loud cracking sound signifying the eventual collapse of the floor, which Beast Boy was unable to get out of as he dropped below the floor level.

"Well now, looks like you're on your own," the pinkette noted once Beast Boy had left sight.

"Maybe, maybe not," the brunette returned. _I still need to find out what they were talking about earlier. Until then I'll need to play it smart until we can regroup, _he thought before inhaling the dusty air into his lungs, then exhaling the contents of his lungs at the pinkette for an impromptu smokescreen, the girl pushing out only to find the brunette gone.

Elsewhere, Cy and Gizmo's fight seemed to turn one-sided when the metal teen suddenly tore two of the kid's spider legs off and grounded him, ripping off his backpack and crushing it sending the little midget running behind some crates. Lifting it up and smirking as he found him, Cy's eyes widened when he stepped on a hologram projector that had been placed there, the tiny terror leaping onto his back and hacking into his systems, using a set of analog controls that were there for _some _reason, taking the larger teen for a carnival ride before ejecting his right arm.

* * *

><p>If you were watching from the bay as the sun set, you could practically <em>taste <em>the conflict as Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Starfire were suddenly ejected from the tower as though it were a cannon. The absence of the wind-manipulator in their presence as they landed in the bay signified he was hiding out in the Tower for some reason, the HIVE kids seeming to ignore him for more pressing matters.

"Have a nice _afterlife_, you snot-eating _losers_!" Gizmo cackled as Jinx sent a wide-spraying hexbolt into the bay, causing a tidal wave to rise up before sweeping the Titans under the current. "By the way, where's that Peter Pan wannabe?" he then asked as the four Titans left their line of sight.

"Don't know. He disappeared before we took over, and I haven't seen him since," Jinx sighed. "Are you _sure _he's still in the tower?"

"Yeah. Before I took out the scuz-muncher I put a _feeler _into the building's systems. The guy tries to escape, and I'll know," he muttered as he held up one of his controllers. "However, if that guy manages to get out of even _one _hole and into the open air, and we may as well kiss that bonus goodbye," he said with an angry huff.

"Why would Slade want him anyway?" Mammoth asked as he dusted off his hands.

"Who knows. Cloning, brainwashing, genetic experimentation. Don't know, don't care, just as long as I can get that bonus," the diminutive genius muttered.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the north side of Jump City Bay, which at the moment was deserted, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, and Starfire had somehow been able to avoid being swept into the undertow, having made their way to the shoreline after being taken from their home. The three who were wearing clothing took the time to wring the water out of it, the silence ended when Beast Boy decided to try and brighten up the situation.<p>

"So uh... Who _else _never wants to go surfing again?" Beast Boy asked.

"Not now man," Cy said in an annoyed tone.

"Hey, I was just trying to-" he said in self-defense, the mage putting a hand on his shoulder to cut him off as Cy extended a small acetylene torch from his left forefinger. Panels on his thighs opening, the teen began to tend to his shorted out circuits caused by both the battle damage by the joyride and the recent _swim_.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance?" Starfire asked coming up behind him.

"I _got _it."

"But you are so damaged and-"

"I _said _I got it!" Cy growled as he rounded on her, causing the Tamaranian to gasp.

"Hey! She only wanted to help! What is your _problem_?" Beast Boy demanded.

"What do you _think_?" Cy demanded. "We got kicked out of our house, a pint-sized Poindexter took me for a joyride, we still got a friend behind enemy lines where they're doing who-_knows _what to him, and in case you hadn't noticed, I just became left-_handed_!" he growled holding up his right bicep, one of the few pieces of his original body back in the tower leaving him with only two chunks left.

"Enough!" Raven shouted out. "We need to control our emotions."

"Or what? Our bad _vibes _will keep you from _me_di_tating_?" Cy growled at her.

"I wish Robin were here," Star said worriedly.

"Well he's _not_!" Cy growled. "Don't you guys get it? They won, we lost. IT'S OVER!"

"It isn't just that," Raven said worriedly. "Vent... It isn't much, but I was able to piece something together that may explain his overprotective tendencies, some of which go to the point of masochism," she said getting their attention. "The five of us... It's possible we're the only family he has left, and with Robin missing and all of us defeated, I honestly fear that those three might not live to see the next day," she thought, a stark white backdrop appearing behind her with Vent's profile silhouette looming over her head, red-glowing narrowed eyes and a crazed smile like a jack-o-lantern's visible as he cackled maddly, the group thinking of how far the brunette would _go _if pushed far enough as they remembered the _last _time he went ballistic.

"Then we go there and back him up," a familiar voice said from the dune, the others looking up to see Robin standing on the hillside, seemingly having a ray from heaven casting itself upon him, only his belt was missing, most likely still in Vent's hands. "Come on. Let's go get our tower, _and _our friend back," he said rallying the group together.

* * *

><p>The following evening, the Tower's exterior had undergone an extensive renovation in the Titan's absence. One of the vertical bars on the <strong>T <strong>had been extended, the lights on the south half had been put out, and a vertical portion had been build up to join the half still lit and coming to the same height at the central extention. The entire effect made the lighted tower look like a giant **H **for HIVE, a honeycomb pattern applied to the add-ons. With the Titans "gone", it was unlikely that anyone would bug them in "their new home". At the same time inside, a pair of spherical robots held an oval-shaped wooden plaque in their "mouths", Cy's arm mounted on it like a stuffed fish.

"Higher... A little to the left... A little more... and... Perfect!" he said once the plaque was in place. "Slade's gonna have _kittens _when he finds out we whipped the Titans _and _took their stinkin' tower," he then laughed heading towards the front consoles.

"What about Robin and Ventus? Didn't Slade say he wanted them alive?" Mammoth asked.

"If we need money we can just rob a bank or somethin'," Gizmo huffed. "Besides we never killed them, and he said he wanted them in re_coverable _condition for whatever he's got planned for them later. Far as _I _see, we met mission criteria."

"In the meantime, we still have his favorite _fashion _statement," Jinx said coming into the room, one of Robin's yellow belts hanging loosely over her hips before she looked at the blue cloak that she was also wearing in contempt. "But that's the _only _thing fashionable around here."

"Tell me about it," Mammoth said pulling a moldy hamburger out of the fridge. "Hmph. All their food is _way _out of date," he said before tossing it into his mouth, the concept apparently not disuading him in the slightest.

"You think _that _stuff's rotten? Wait 'til you see their _music_," he said as he began chucking CDs off the case with mutterings of "crud", "snot", "mega-crud", and other like-wise terms.

"Hey Mammoth, you find that Ventus kid yet? If he's still in the tower, then he might get the jump on us at an inoportune moment, God forbid he finds us alone and starts picking us off," Jinx stated with crossed arms. After taking over the tower, the first place she went was the guy's room, and after checking everywhere she only knew the guy kept his stuff in order, not enough to tell if he'd been through there recently. There wasn't anything her size in his closet and it was all _guy's _clothing, so that was why aside from one of Robin's belts from _his _room, she had gone to _Raven's _room and picked herself out a nice cloak considering all of Starfire's clothing would be too big for her.

"Nah, didn't find him," he said pigging out on furry blue food for a few minutes, the fights earlier having tired him out. "Hey Gizmo, can't you just use the tower's se_curity _to find him?" he asked munching on a furry blue drumstick.

"I searched for him already, but he must be hiding in a blindspot somewhere," Gizmo said chucking another few CDs to the side that were "garbage".

"Well, I'm all fueled up, so I guess I'll go look one more time. Kid may be fast, but in closed spaces _I _own the battlefield," he said as he opened the side door, suddenly greeted by the sight of a humanoid figure covered head to toe in sand-colored clothing, a breather and goggles poking out of the bandages it wore around its face with tufts of brown hair poking out randomly. He wore white clothing beneath a sand-colored cloak, and had brown boots and gloves, every part of his skin covered, and one of Robin's belts around its waist. The next moment the thing raised an off-gold colored spear with prongs at the tip and shouted- **"HRRRRRR! HrHrHrHRRRRRRR!" **–while holding his spear above his head and pumping it up and down in accompaniment to his war cry.

"AHHHHHH! SAND MAN!" Mammoth cried as he ran in the opposite direction, the _Sand Man _following him and drawing the attention of the others, the thing acting like a deranged lunatic as it began firing blue energy blasts from its spear at them, having caught them completely off-guard.

Of course it was at _this _moment that Cy had remotely taken control of his arm, the end of his middle finger flipping out with a camera inside. Chuckling to himself as the three were being chased around by some crazed lunatic in a Sand Man costume with a Gordanian spear, his arm began roving towards one of the consoles at the front of the room. After scuttling onto one of the chairs, a set of thin tentacles acting as connectors to his limb pressed several keys, a schematic of the Tower's security measures coming into view before the green turned to red. At the moment the screen winked out, alarms and buzzers began going off, Gizmo became separated from the others as the Sand Man lost interest in him. Backing towards one of the nearby chairs as the spear-wielding maniac dodged everything the others could throw at him, the midget suddenly yelped out in surprise as the chair swiveled around

"What the hairball?" he cried seeing Cyborg's arm standing on the seat by its fingers with a red eye glaring from the inside of the tip of the middle finger, four tentacles shooting out and grabbing the pipsqueak's arms and legs. The next moment the bionic limb suddenly jumped down before speeding across the floor, a couple of jet thrusters folding out of the forearm and ignited, carrying the two into the air. The next moment the arm balled its hand into a fist, punching through a round ceiling duct and carrying Gizmo up with it.

Back with the remainder of the conflict, Jinx continued to avoid the spear-wielding maniac screeching war cries only to run head-first into a black shadowy hand that had sprouted from the ceiling, the girl gasping in shock before it receded into the ceiling and took her into the darkness. Left alone, Mammoth began to sweat slightly as the Sand Man grunted some form of alien language at him, herding him towards the center of the room before a starbolt suddenly slammed into him and rocketed him out of the room. Flying into the room, Starfire landed on the carpet and approached the "Sand Man", the raider-like alien setting the back end of his spear down before pulling his mask, breather, and bandages back, revealing that it was Ventus all along.

"Sorry I couldn't pick them off one by one, but they were too close to one another, even _when _separated," the brunette spoke.

"I am simply glad you are alright," Star returned, the brunette discarding his panic-inducing disguise and heading for the roof through the window while Starfire headed into the corridor that she shot Mammoth into. At that moment on the roof a large black raven emerged before depositing Jinx and dropping her to her knees. Behind her, Cyborg's arm burst through the vent pipe and carried the screaming Gizmo higher and higher before careening towards his classmate, the girl's eyes widening before the inevitable head-on collision which sent them both rolling across the roof. When the elevator door slid open, a green flash of light accompanied the ejection of Mammoth from the metal shaft, the larger teen landing right in front of the other two.

"Sorry to interrupt the victory celebration. But like I said, this isn't over," Robin said making his presence known, Cyborg reattaching his arm after it flew back to him.

"It's just getting started," he said as the three stood up.

"Attack Patern Alpha!" Jinx called out, Gizmo and Mammoth scattering to the side as she threw a hexbolt forward. In response the Titans scrambled when the panel they were standing on suddenly swelled up and exploded. Coming down from his jump, Vent saw that Mammoth was heading towards him with his fists raised for a double axe handle. Leap frogging off his hands, the mammoth teen's attack merely sent an attack toward Cyborg. Landing behind him, Jinx vaulted over his shoulders and hurled a spell at some of the scaffolding as she sailed through the air, the water tank falling over and toppling towards Cyborg, who ran just in time to get out of the way as a second tank collapsed hear him. While Ventus and Starfire were launching projectiles at Jinx, whose projectiles caused them to have to dodge as well, Cyborg looked around for the all-clear when Gizmo suddenly leapt onto his back.

"Hey Robo-Wimp. Feel like getting hacked?" he asked pulling out a metal cylindrical tool, which separated into four prongs and sparked menacingly.

"Nope. How 'bout you? Robin! Now!" he cried as Robin suddenly leapt into the air from behind the water tank and chucking a small yellow device towards Gizmo's pack, attaching to it and causing it to spark madly, the midget crying out in pain and frustration as Robin landed on the roof behind him.

"Ahhh! Cut it out! It's gonna crash my whole system!" Gizmo cried as he ripped off his shoulder-mounted laser. "Get it off me! Get it off-WAH!" he cried as his jetback suddenly forced him to take to the air. Elsewhere, Jinx ran madly to dodge Star's salvo of starbolts, finding herself funder the scaffolding for the vertical attachment to the tower.

"Beast Boy! Go!" Star cried to BB who ws crouching overhead. Flipping a hand sign, the changeling dove off his perch before transforming into a monkey and attached itself squarely to the pinkette's face, the girl firing spells in all directions before finally yanking him off with her own two hands and chucked him across the roof.

"Your luck just ran out!" Beast Boy said with a mock salute as he got a running start, transforming into a hawk as he left Jinx behind with a confused expression. Looking up, her eyes widened when the framework overhead began to collaps around her as joints popped and pipes burst. Shuddering nervously as the pipework collapsed around her, the world turned black around her with a blast of compressed air struck her chin and knocked her out of the way of being crushed.

"If they're trying to _not_ kill someone, they should really think about _not _putting them in situations where they could be crushed," Vent said from behind his extended fist, which he used to send a super-compressed air bullet and knock the pinkette out. Looking to the side, he saw Mammoth running straight at Raven, his fist pulled back only for her to fly over it and avoid it as she dropped down behind him. Turning to charge again, Cy came out of nowhere and rammed his shoulder into him, the mammoth teen sent flying through the air and tumbling a few times before he finally stopped skidding. Looking up, Mammoth saw Beast Boy transformed into a T-Rex, roaring loudly and causing him to completely freak out and run for his life like the fat guy out of Jurassic Park. Firing a mighty starbolt at the fleeing teen, Starfire then nailed Mammoth dead center in the gut, the hit leaving him spinning in midair as Vent and Robin ran towards him, the latter lacing his fingers together as he helped the prior fly through the air, where he came into a flying roundhouse kick with his right shin glowing silver.

"Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku!" Vent cried as he whirled around and repetitively struck the mammoth teen across the face in a flying whirlwind kunu fu kick, the finisher sending him rolling across the ground before he crashed into his teammates, all arranged in a groaning pile after Gizmo had finally come down off his _high_.

"Cram it. I'm calling Slade," Gizmo said pulling out a transmitter, which was flicked on as Robin yanked him up to eye level.

"Who is Slade?"

"Wouldn't _you _like to know, barf-brain?" he asked with a grin, his expression clear that he wasn't going to talk.

* * *

><p>A while later back in Slade's darkend lair, Slade sat on his throne and looked down at HIVE's Headmistress, who at the moment had come to apologize for her student's failure after they were taken in by the authorities.<p>

"I assure you, such failures are _not _tolerated within the HIVE. Once the agents have been retrieved from the authorities, they will be disciplined. _Strictly _disciplined," she said bringing her fist down onto her palm.

"Actually, your agents served my plans quite _well_," the man known as Slade stated. "I never expected them to succeed. They were merely messengers. And the message... has been delivered," he said as Robin's likeness appeared on the monitor, captured on film by Gizmo and asking **"Who is Slade?" **over and over again, an entire _row _of screens lighting up.

* * *

><p>The next morning after the HIVE's <em>additions <em>to the tower had been taken down, the massive spires and tiles of metal scheduled to be taken off the island via barge within the next week-

"NOOOOO! This is the worst thing that could ever happen!" Beast Boy cried. "My tunes! They've been... _alphabetized_," he said as though saying the word itself was sacrilege. "How am I ever going to _find _anything?" he cried as he began tossing the CDs over his shoulder, whereas Cy continued to search high and low for what he'd been searching for the previous morning.

"They went... into my room," Raven said icily as she came in holding one of her cloaks. "No one should _ever _go into my room."

"_*Gasp* _They have disposed of all our furry blue food!" Starfire gasped.

"That thing hisses at us and you're up_set _that it's gone?" Vent asked poignantly, secretly making Raven proud at his detached attitude for the loss of the sinful abomination called food.

"You gotta be _kidding _me!" Cy cried as he lifted up the couch. "The whole _place _gets cleaned and I still can't find the-" he said before Robin whistled to get his attention, pointing past the couch to the coffee table where the remote lay waiting in plain sight. "Ha!" he laughed as he dropped the couch and sat down, Robin flipping through the channels as the others joined in. "I guess we really oughta be training for battles, tracking down clues, and trying to find out who _Slade _is, huh?" Cy asked, whereas in the corner Vent suddenly froze up, but shook it off out of the other's notice.

"We will. But right now, I'm just happy to be part of the team," Robin returned.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own One Piece (Rankyaku and variant). Do not own Avatar the Last Airbender (air scooter). Don't own the Sand Man from Star Wars. Don't own the Shinku Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (Street Fighter). Also, used references from DBZ Abridged, the only episode of Teen Titans Abridged, and The Three Stooges.**

**Author's Notes:  
>Seems Slade has a "professional interst" in Robin and Ventus. What could that possibly mean? Will Robin be spared from all the crap he has to put up with now that he's shown interest in <strong>_**both **_**of them? You'll just have to continue reading to find out.**

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	8. Two of Four

It was a few days after the HIVE students now known to them as Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo were taken away by the authorities. The spires of metal and tiles had been removed from the island by barge and would be recycled for various uses, and when asked why the three of them would go as far as to make the Tower **H-**shaped, Robin simply answered that maybe it was a demoralizing move. With the apparent use of construction drones, the three of them must've meant to turn the city's current symbol of hope against them. After all, if people could worry a little less about being attacked by thugs and such, now that the cops weren't stretched so thin, then maybe they were doing their job right. At the moment the night sky was dark and filled with thunderhead clouds, flashes of lightning illuminating their contours. It was inside the hall that Beast Boy was setting something up, using the form of a buffalo and straining as he forced the mother of all rubber bands back until it caught on a nearby hook. Ducking away with a mischievous grin on his face, he then held up a pink balloon filled with who-knows-what in his hands, letting off a wicket little chuckle.

"This is gonna be _sweet_!" he chuckled rubbing his hands together like a madman.

"What are you doing?" Raven suddenly asked form behind him, the changeling shrieking and nearly losing his balloon, which was on the verge of bursting. Catching it with a sigh, the mage could only state- "Please tell me this isn't another ri_dic_ulous prank."

"Okay. It's not a ridiculous prank. It's a _brilliant _one!" he said trying to get a laugh out of her, only for the mage to wearily roll her eyes. "Alright, check it out. 'Member how Cyborg put red dye in my shampoo and I turned brown for two days?" Beast Boy asked.

"One, didn't Cy do that to snap Vent out of his Rut? And two, didn't you and Vent get to split ten grand down the middle because he had you impersonate a bloodhound at the dog show?" Raven asked poignantly with a raised eyebrow, thinking back on to how he'd actually given her half of his own winning when he had initially only promised one grand. She tried not to blush at the memory of Vent giving her a kiss on the forehead before the two hell-raisers left either, or the smile and hug she got when he said she was "the best". She'd of course begun repressing the memory of Dogman after he nearly flung frothing foam from his mouth at her while being taken away.

"That's not the point!" Beast Boy cried, though the 5 grand was kinda nice. "Anyway, I give you the Beast Boy Insta-Lube 9000," he said suddenly pulling down a blue white-marked blue print with a crude drawing of the hallway like the kind you'd see on Wile E. Coyote's drawing table. "See, when chrome dome steps around the corner, his toot tugs the string. The string trips the lever, the lever releases the mother of all rubber bands, which sends a balloon-load of motor oil flying _right _at him, and BOOSH! Pretty clever huh?" he said before waiting to get the girl's take on his plan. In all honesty however, he should've known that she wouldn't care one way or another, as long as it didn't directly affect her.

"You're a genius," she said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It's just a little good clean dirty fun," the changeling stated, a door opening down the hall as he listened. "Here he comes," he said ducking away, then whisked her off as well.

"I do not think-"

"Shhh!"

"But what if-"

"Shhh!" BB said shushing her again.

"Why are we hiding?" Cy then asked.

"Shhh!" he shushed again, only for his eyes to go wide as saucers realizing that his target was nowhere near ground zero, Cyborg currently hunched down behind both of them. "Cyborg? You can't be Cyborg!"

"I can't?" he asked.

"If you're you, then who's...?" he cried pointing at Cy as he looked down the hall. At that moment, a violet boot steped onto the wire and caught it, the string pulled taut, moving the lever and pulling the hook away from the rubber band. "NOOOOOOOO!" Beast Boy cried as he ran at it, the world seeming to flow in slow motion as the projectile was propelled forward by the built-up tension, his hands barely scraping it before it shot forward. On the other side, so taken by surprise was Starfire that she _literally _couldn't see straight, releasing a small- "Eek!" – as the balloon collided with her face, splattering her with the viscous contents and knocked her onto her back.

"You okay?" Cy asked as Star propped herself up with her hands.

"This is punishment?" she asked puzzled as she wiped some of the motor oil and who-knows-what-else out of her eyes. "I did something wrong?"

"You didn't. _He _did," Raven said pointing a finger at Beast Boy.

"Star! It was... You weren't meant to… I didn't… uh, heheh. Just remember to change that oil every three thousand miles," he said jokingly, though no one was laughing.

"On my planet, we have a _name _for those who do such terrible things," Starfire said as she stood over him with steadily building rage. "You are a... a... CLORBAG VARBLERNELK!" she cried angrily, her rage causing the oil to disappear at the last two words.

"I'm a what-bag?" the changeling asked.

"You _heard _the lady," Cy stated.

"You are _such _a clorbag," Raven stated.

"Come on you guys. Can't anyone take a joke?" he asked, lightning flashing before a shadowy silhouette was suddenly cast on the far wall, causing them to whirl around to the window.

"**Let... me... in..."** a weary voice then said as a hand pressed itself onto the window, Beast Boy nearly jumping right out of their skins as a spiky-haired figure with glowing silver eyes floated just against the window, his visage shadowed as lightning flashed before him, a look like the Shinigami's plastered across his face as he scowled angrily.

"AHHHHHHH!" Beast Boy screamed as he hid behind Cy who could only shake, Raven simply opening the window and letting Vent in. At the moment he was wearing a black T-shirt that was advertising the shooting range just outside town a khaki pants with black open-toed sneakers. He hardly wore his scarf that much anymore since he actually had a place to put it, and his goggles were now rested on his forehead, but what really stood out about him at the moment was that his hair was pointing out in all directions, his face twitching as the occasional discharge coursed through his body.

"Vent? Is that you?" Cy asked as the teen convulsed painfully. "Due what happened, you look like you were hit by a-"

"Bolt of _lightning_?" the brunette asked with a scowl. "The _one _day I _literally _wear a bullseye on my back from a graphic design, and Mother Nature decides to give it to me _straight up_ the ass," he groaned, even though it wasn't his ass that was hit, but the back of his shirt just short of the center dot, the flesh slightly singed though not as bad off since he wasn't _grounded _when hit. "I swear, the next time I see a lightning-manipulator, I'm going to kick their ass-RRGH!" he cringed as another discharge coursed through his body, the teen slumping to the ground and leaning his shoulder against the wall.

"Stand still. I'll repair the damage," Raven stated placing her glowing hands on his back, the electricity being drawn out of his body and neutralized as the red welt began to disappear. "There. Better?" she asked as the burn mark disappeared without even trace of a scar.

"Much. Thank you Raven," Vent said with a smile as he pulled down his electrically-groomed hair.

"Titans! Trouble!" Robin said form down the hall, his silhouette lit up by the lightning's glare.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the Jump City Bridge, cracks of lightning flashed across the skies and thunderclouds rumbled ominously. A few moments later, a clap of lightning suddenly struck the roadway, a big rig on the road cutting sharply to the right, the truck stopping short of the smoking, flaming strike point, many cars slamming their brakes to avoid a collision, creating an instant traffic jam.<p>

As the smoke began to clear, two figures were revealed. Both of them were wearing outfits akin to that of a samurai's armor but without the upper body protection. The larger one was bulky and blue-skinned with black clothing trimmed blue, a samurai-style helmet on his head. There was a thundercloud emblazoned on his chest, and he had long black sideburns. The other one, much thinner than his cohort, had light yellow skin and hair, his outfit red and yellow with a lightning bolt on his chest. He had a headband on that kept his upswept hair out of the way and had a guard plate stretching down covering both his cheeks. The two of them wore armbands, wrist, and shinguards.

"May we have fun here, brother?" the skinny one asked.

"Of course!" he said creating a blue bolt between his hands. "We are Thunder and Lightning. We may do whatever we please," he said referring to his brother first and himself second, throwing the bolt upward at the cables connecting the bridge to the roadway. "Look brother! I command the sparks to dance!" he laughed as the sparks from overhead fell around them in a shower.

"Amusing. Now listen as I make music!" he said clapping his hands, creating an intense shockwave and sending it radiating outwards, a few bridge cables jarring loose as they began to whipsaw back and forth.

"Tell all who pass this way know- Lightning was here!" Lightning cackled as he carved a five-lined lightning bolt down the side of the semi.

"And Thunder too!" the blue-skinned _elemental_ said banging his fists together knuckle to knuckle, creating an earthquake that stopped the cars on the road, every alarm within a quarter mile going off, the brothers laughing and Thunder patting Lightning's shoulder.

"Most amusing," the yellow-skinned _elemental _spoke.

"Hate to break it to you..." Robin said from the truck trailer causing the two to snarl, the others in attendance. "But you guys have a lousy sense of humor! This ends- Now!"

"No one gives orders to Thunder and Lightning!" Lightning cried shaking his fist at the spiky-haired teen. "Taste my power!" he shouted as he threw a lightning bolt at the Titans, who scattered in five directions as the trailer got a big hole blown through it, wiping out the graffiti. Performing a U-turn and swooping down with her starbolts blazing, Lightning leapt onto a line of cars as Starfire did likewise, the two running along the parallel tracks and trading shots for several dozen yards until the elemental got a hit on the Tamaranian and knocked her down. Raven then dodged a lightning bolt and launched herself downward with a flying kick, the yellow brother throwing his arms up to block the flurry of kick as he was being driven back. Finally getting clear, he socked her with a bolt of lightning and sent her flying, Vent catching her in mid-air and cringing as the electricity arced across his body. Transformed into a giant panda, Beast Boy lumbered towards and catching Lightning in a bear hug. For a moment the elemental struggled, but then he electrified his entire body and gave the shape-shifting teen a few thousand volts, forcing him back into human form and causing him to let go.

"Your powers are strong, but mine are _stronger!_" Lightning cackled.

"YOU!" Vent said suddenly pointing at Lightning incredulously, Thunder, Cyborg, and Robin fighting in the background. "_YOU'RE _the one who tried shooting me out of the sky twenty _minutes_ ago! What the hell, man?"

"Why did I do it? Because it would be _fun_ of course. Reliable moving targets are _sooo _hard to find," the supernatural being replied _admitting _to the deed. "What of it? Do you intend to stop me?" he asked, getting a baseball-sized airbolt to the face.

"Yes," Vent said plainly as the being's head was jerked back, his hair dishelved from the hit.

"RRR! No one stops _my _fun!" Lightning shrieked as he threw a lightning bolt at Vent, who simply waved his hand to the side, the bolt of lightning seemingly bouncing off an invisible current and sent out to the side, dissipating when it hit the water. "Nani?"

"You're quite _literally _lightning, so you should know that air is a strong electrical insulator," Vent remarked with a smirk, finally finding someone that only _he _could fight. Or at least to any real effect.

"Oh so you hold that over my head _too_?" Lightning cried. "Fine then. I'll leave. There's fun to be had _elsewhere_!" he said launching a lightning bolt across the air, striking Beast Boy who appeared to be talking to the elemental's brother before said elemental rushed over to his brother's side. "Ah, the thrill of victory," he sighed throwing an arm over his brother's shoulder. "Come Thunder. We shall seek more amusement!" he said flying away with his brother, not really wanting to deal with the aerokinetic whose powers reminded him of one who _also _held their lightning-neutralizing power over his head.

"Hey! Get back here you coward!" Vent shouted as he shook a fist at them, Beast Boy rising out of the pile of rubble he'd been blasted into, smoking, dishelved, and drooling a bit.

"Well, that was a shock," the changeling told Starfire, only for the girl to turn her nose up to him and float on. "So... I'm guessing you're still mad?" he asked as the team regrouped.

"Okay team. We have to find those guys before they do any more damage. Cyborg, search he west side, Raven, the east. I'll take downtown. Beast Boy, Vent, you and Star scan from the skies," Robin ordered, causing BB to uneasily look up to his female partner, whereas the other one gave off a look that said, _"You make the mess, you clean it up."_

"Um... Maybe Cyborg should come with me instead," he said trying to get away from the red-head.

"Cyborg can't fly," Robin stated evenly.

"Oh. Yeah," BB said nervously.

"Have a nice flight, my little clorbag," Cy said teasingly as he pulled on the greenette's cheek, the changeling groaning as the group scattered, leaving him with the two premier fliers.

"So... Clorbag Varblernelk huh?" Ventus asked the red-head, said red-head nodding while huffing in Beast Boy's direction. "Come on. I'll take lead. If I get hit by lightning again, then I'll know that spiky-haired _teme _is nearby," he said taking to the air, voicing his theory that the two were _Japanese _deities. _Star won't talk to BB, and he can't talk while in_

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later, the group had flown through the skies to come upon a ruined courtyard for the museum. Several stone slabs had been toppled over, resembling dominos, and if Vent's memories were correct, there used to be a stone globe on that one pedestal, which had probably been used to smash the stone slabs.<p>

"Well, either they were just here, or this is the ugliest modern art I've ever seen," Beast Boy joked.

"You are not funny. You are a clorbag varblernelk," the Tamaranian girl stated adamantly as she walked past, Vent following a few paces to her left to give the girl some space.

"Come on Star. You can't stay mad forever. What? Do I have to do the face? You _know _you can't resist the face," he said as in no time flat, he had transformed into a small kitten with huge, shining eyes. The changeling meowed as endearingly as possible, the girl looking at him for a long moment before huffing, turning her nose upwards, and walking away. "She resisted the face!" BB cried in shock.

"Well your sense of humor _does _tend to grate on a few people's nerves. Maybe you just finally crossed a line that _shouldn't _have," Vent stated looking around the corner of the remaining slabs. Ignoring the brunette even though he had been correct, the changeling ran over to star as she examined where the globe had once been anchored, smoke rising from the stump while she had her hand to her chin in thought.

"Just talk to me, Star!" BB cried kneeling. "Come on, this is no fun!"

"Wrong again, green one!" Lightning said from overhead, he and Thunder floating down and firing their own attacks, the two off-guard Titans scattering. While Starfire ran down one side and kept just ahead of Thunder who was _also _on foot, Beast Boy and Vent ran at Lightning.

"Alright you spiky-haired pin-head, let's see how good you are when something blasts _back_!" Vent smirked as he shucked several airbolts at Lighting while Starfire ran straight up a wall and performed a high backflip over Thunder's head. Blocking the airbolts with his gauntlets, the lightning elemental began launching lightning bolts at Ventus as he ran sidelong, Vent strafing around the attacks with his right hand formed into an airgun as it rested on his left, the brunette's brow furrowing in concentration as a _line _of air bullets formed in front of his fingers, dangling from the original like a magazine, the brunette firing the twelve bullets at Lightning, who performed quick lightning-enhanced leaps and dodged the majority, one hitting his right shoulder, left shin, and the last hitting his right temple sending him rolling to the ground. Before he could get up however, Beast Boy transformed into a bighorn sheep and sent him flying. "You're not out of the woods yet!" Vent said rushing at the falling Lightning with the wind on his heels. "Joudan Sokutou Geri!" he shouted as he leapt forward a short distance and delivered a powerful side kick to his opponent, sending him flying to the wall where he "wall bounced" before flipping in mid-air and recovering, a scowl evident on his fist as he and Vent ran at one another, exchanging lightning and wind-enhanced fisticuffs. "Yo BB! Deal with blue boy over there!" Vent said before he received a lightning-enhanced punch to the left cheek, only to deliver a likewise wind-packed attack to the elemental's face and send him reeling, air and rubber being the only things that could actually hurt him. "I've got a score to settle!" he said ushering Beast Boy off.

"You're very foolish to discard such willing aid," Lightning spoke, though in truth _this _was among some of the most fun he'd had in years. "Your orange-skinned friend is durable enough to stand up to an elemental by her own. You however are not."

"Hey, don't count me out so easily," Vent said reaching into his pocket, having come across a thin red sash on the wind earlier and had stuffed it into his pocket, forgetting about it until just this moment. "I've been through Dante's Nine Circles in my comparatively short life, so don't assume I can't take a beating," he said as he tied the bandana around his head, a steely look in his eyes as he assumed a fighting stance. "Round 2. FIGHT!" he said as the two charged once again, Ryu's Theme from Marvel vs Capcom 3 playing in his head as the two exchanged blows, the sheer adrenaline pushing his body as far as physically possible as the mortal human and the immoral elemental clashed.

**A few minutes earlier on Starfire's side**

After performing her high backflip over Thunder's head, Ventus and Lightning clashing in the background, she leapt off to the end of the courtyard as he closed in on her. As the blue-skinned elemental projected a beam towards her, she countered with a mighty starbolt, the two attacks meeting in the middle and cancelling out. After a few seconds however, her energy began to overwhelm his, reaching him and knocking him across the open expanse to land squarely where the globe once stood. Now a giant bear, Beast Boy moved against him and fought, the ursine titan getting to his hind legs to plow into Thunder, driving him into the courtyard wall while Starfire opted to watch Ventus fight Lightning. As much as she enjoyed the grand battles of her new career, there was something akin to a _rush _watching two people fight fist to fist, their bodies on the line. Looking to her feet, she spotted the brunette's camcorder, having fallen out of his pocket. Curiosity taking over, she took hold of it and began to record the fight, doing her best to keep the two in the frame as Beast Boy squared off against Thunder.

"Listen, I don't want to hurt you. And I know you don't want to hurt me," Beast Boy said resuming human form and holding Thunder up by his collar.

"_Pain _does not amuse us," the elemental returned plainly.

"Could've fooled me. Keep playing rough, and innocent people will get hurt," he said with a clenched fist, causing the blue figure to think. Elsewhere, a sudden puff of smoke rose before solidifying at the fence that separated the courtyard from the museum lawn. Stepping out of the shadows was a tall figure with long white hair blowing about an old but strong male face, his thin moustache and beard giving him a vaguely Oriental appearance. He wore a broad flat-crowned hat, red traveling robes, and black robes underneath. Watching the fighting, taking the time to note Ventus' fight against Lightning, almost as though he recognized the teen personally, the man then pulled out an old wooden box on a tripod, resembling an old-style movie camera. Smiling wickedly, he then began to turn the crank, the front cover falling away to reveal a glowing red camera lens which began to turn white, the ground trembling as a broad energy them and smashed cleanly through the intact row of concrete slabs. Just missing Starfire as she watched Ventus and Lightning duel, she then gasped as a shower of ruined stonework came tumbling straight towards her and Beast Boy.

"Starfire! Beast Boy!" Ventus cried as he ran over to the pile of stone slabs, Lightning and Thunder shocked at the sudden display of power, the prior's rivalry with the brunette forgotten as he looked for the source of that magnificent display of power, finding a silhouette hiding at the chaos' mouth as it were.

"Your gifts are your own. Who are they to tell you how to use them?" the man said as Vent dug through the piles of stonework.

"And who are you that command such power? Show yourself!" Lightning demanded, resisting the urge to rub his aching body, those wind-packed punches being one of the few things on the mortal plane to do him any real harm.

"As you wish," the old man spoke as the haze around him cleared. "I am but a humble old man, whose power is drawn from nature like your own," he said as the now-abandoned camera rested with the stones. "Come with me, and sow as much destruction as you please," he said turning away.

"Yes! More fun! And with no interruption!" Lightning cheered, Thunder restraining him with a hand on his shoulder, not noticing his brother flinch from the wind-user's right hook.

"Will we harm anyone?" Thunder asked worriedly.

"What? The green one has poisoned your mind."

"This destruction- Will we harm the innocent?"

"Would it matter if you did? You are unique. Gifted. Better. Why should anything interfere with your enjoyment?" he asked as he left the courtyard. "I am going. Follow, if you wish."

"Come, brother, and leave your foolish thoughts behind," Lightning said following the old man. For a moment Thunder turned back to the pile of rubble to see the brown-haired human who had been dueling his brother digging through the rocks, an almost _scared _look on his face as he heaved slab after slab of stone away. After a few moment, he left to follow his brother.

"Come on Star! Don't die on me! Just hang on!" Vent said digging at the pile of rubble, tears threatening to spill from his eyes. Meanwhile on the opposite side of the pile, a small green spider scuttled out of a hole in the stone and climbed up the side a bit before returning to human form.

"Star? Starfire? Where are you?" he asked as he climbed down. "Come on! Gimme a sign here!" he shouted out as he began to dig. "you have to be all right, okay? 'Cause I-it was just a joke, you know? Back at the Tower, and... I'm sorry. I never said it, but I'm really, really sorry. It was supposed to be funny, and you couldv'e been hurt, and..." he said as he strained to heave a good-sized fragment off the pile. _"... I'm a total clorbag," _he said softly before looking over his shoulder, her warm forgiving smile instantly perking up. "Starfire!" he cried in joy as he once more took the form of a kitten and jumped into her outstretched hands, cuddling to her chest and mewling happily.

"I am glad to see you are unharmed as well," Starfire returned as she put BB down, who upon returning to human form kneeled before her and clasped his hands together.

"Star, I am _so _sorry. You gotta forgive me," he begged.

"I already have," she said helping him up. "Now those evil brothers must be made to apologize."

"I don't think they _are _evil. I think they're just like me. Trying to have fun and looking for an outlet," he explained, he and Star suddenly pulled into a crushing bear hug a moment later.

"STARFIRE! BEAST BOY! YOU'RE ALIVE!" Vent cried happily as he hugged the two, Starfire patting his shoulder with a giggle while Beast Boy transformed into a snake to try and pry himself free, only for that form to be squeezed just as much. "I was so worried! I thought you two had gotten really hurt!"

"Yeahthat'snice! Canyoupleaseletgonow?" Beast Boy begged as his spine was on the verge of being snapped like a dry twig.

"Friend Ventus, while you waged battle, I was able to record it," she said presenting the camcorder to Vent, the brunette taking it and playing back the recent footage. "Is it satisfactory?" she asked.

"Of course it is. Now come on. Let's go. It's time for the Final RouNNND!" the brunette suddenly cried as he fell to his knees, electricity racing across his body as he accidentally tossed the camera into the air, Beast Boy catching it right before it fell.

"I will call Raven and ask for her to heal you," Star said bringing out her T-Communicator. No matter the warrior, if they were injured, regardless of skill they could fall at a moment's notice.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere up in the mountains outside Jump City, forty three scarecrow-like dummies arranged in a seemingly-random formation from the ground. They consisted of two crossed tree limbs with a blanked wrapped around them, some with characters painted onto the cloth.<p>

"Sticks and leaves?" Lightning demanded contemptuously. "Is this a _joke_? There is no fun in blasting such frail targets?"

"Are you certain, young master? Try. You may like what you see," the old man suggested, using a tone one may use when getting a child to try a new food for the first time. Groaning, the young master in question then threw a bolt of lightning at one of the dummies, which instantly caught on fire and made him rethink his earlier opinion on the whole exercise.

"Dancing lights! Pleasing."

"Let Thunder try his hand," the blue-skinned elemental said throwing a blast towards his target, causing it to disappear in a small explosion and a great clap of sound, the explosion clearing to reveal it on fire like the first. "Wondrous noise!"

"See, brother? There is no harm in our fun," Lightning said putting a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"And there is so much fun to be had," the old sorcerer spoke, the two thrill-seekers grinning at one another before taking off, blasting targets one after another with lit fervor. Soon the two were working in tandem an dturning one another into blazing torches.

"More targets, old one!" Lightning cheered.

"Yes, please, give us more," Thunder pleaded.

"That won't be necessary. You've done quite enough," he said as he strode forward and pulled a metal disc from underneath his robes, the kanji on it Chinese and resembling a stylized **S**. Pulling his arm back, the elderly man shucked the object over the clearing as Thunder and Lightning watched, totally baffled as it flew much _higher _than it should've off the end of a throw from an old man. Suddenly, the disc began spinning in place as electricity crackled across it, building up speed and culminating in a mighty orange flash as rays of light began to strike each target. Soon beams began to shoot out of the dummies themselves, forming a rough humanoid shape on the ground, a final beam igniting the heart torch. As the outline began to burn intensely, the sorcerer then held up a staff topped with the same kanji from the distk he threw. "Rise," he commanded, a flaming apparition with a massive charcoal body rising from the flames and screeching unearthly, roughly humanoid in shape with demonic features, with the same kanji carved onto its skull. "Burn, Fire! Burn it all!" he commanded, the thing turning towards the mountainside and the city proper, only to stop upon finding the Titans some distance away.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you? Play with fire, you're gonna get burned," Robin said with crossed arms. In response to the supposed threat, the flaming beast swung its forearm at the team, forcing them to scatter as a wall of flame shot towards them. Looking up from the duck-and-cover position, Robin and the others look up to see Fire pushing the nearby trees aside and making its way toward Jump City, the flora burning at its touch as it made its way down, smoke and flames billowing as it marched forward, the sorcerer lazily waving the fumes aside with his staff.

"Good. Very good," the man said walking into the shadows, leaving Thunder and Lightning to shudder under the sight of the monster they had just had a hand in unleashing.

"Brother, what have we done?" he asked, the Titans rushing after Fire and fighting it.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as he ran at equal speed to Fire, Raven doing the same from the air. Pulling a couple grenades from his belt, he then threw them at its feet, only for them to throw up a wall of smoke when they blew up.

"Flames can't spread if there's nothing to burn. Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she chanted as several trees in the thing's range were uprooted. It may've been quintessential to killing them, but it was better only a few dozen trees die than a couple hundred.

"Good idea, Raven. Beast Boy! Starfire! Help her out!" Robin ordered, Beast Boy transforming into a buffalo and using a crushing headbutt against the base of a tree, causing it to topple over in a row in and bring the others down. On the other side, Starfire took up a high position from the boughs, throwing starbolts that blew the clumps of potential matchwood t smitherines. Leaping towards Fire, Cyborg leapt forward and released his sonic cannon with a terrific blast towards the ground, throwing up a wall of dirt in the beast's face. The equivalent of dumping sand on a campfire to put it out.

"Is he out?" Robin asked, Vent resisting to urge to slap the green teen as Fire rose up again roaring mad.

"You had to ask," Raven groaned, Ventus charging an airbolt in his hand at its shoulder, only for the fire there to rile up as it burned brightly from the additional oxygen.

"It's no good! My wind attacks only make it stronger!" Vent cursed.

"Then stand down. We'll handle it from here," Robin said running off, the brunette stopping in his tracks for being so useless. At the same time, the old man had goaded Lightning and Thunder into fighting the Titans in defense of Fire, but even though he could face Lightning on semi-equal terms, his head was too filled with grief to do so. First Cinderblock, then Plasmus, and now Fire? It seemed to him as though he were losing just as many fight as he was winning, meaning he was losing _half _of _all _his fights.

"Damn it! Why can't I do anything right?" Vent growled as he slammed his fist into the ground, footsteps from behind causing him to whirl around and face a new figure, a man anywhere between 18 and 21. He was lanky and quite tall, wearing predominately black clothing, being his combat boots, leather pants, and overcoat which left him bare-chested. His red hair was spiked back like a porcupine's, jade colored-eyes on his face, and tear-like tattoos below his eyes, a pair of red-plated welding goggles over his eyes. More or less, he looked like Axel from the Kingdom Hearts series personified, just a bit more muscular.

"You know, if you aren't any good at being _good_, maybe you aren't so bad at being _bad_, hmm?" the guy questioned as he leaned against a charred tree.

"Who're you?" Vent asked, suddenly wary of the flame-headed man across from him.

"You could say we bear similarities, and though we are different, I believe we can help one another," the man stated holding his hand out as some sort of offering, but then threw it to the right, a gout of flame shooting out from his fingertips and lighting one of the trees aflame. "I am Pyro, a Pyrokinetic of the _highest _caliber who does not require tools or any form of mechanical aid," he said placing his welding goggles over his face, the orange flames casting light and shadow across his face.

"Hey! Stop that!" Vent cried as he began shooting air at the ground in an attempt to kick up some dust onto the tree as others began to be lit aflame, only for this powers to add onto the man's own. "Damn! I'm only _feeding _these fires!" he cried before whirling around. "Just what is your problem?" he asked angrily.

"_I'm _not the one with a problem. It's the _world _that has the problem," he said causing the brunette to raise an eyebrow. "History once showed that the _strongest _ruled. Nothing petty like a government official who could hardly carry his suitcase in the morning, but mighty, _proud _warriors who could ravage entire villages by their own power. _Now _however, a person can be as frail and weak as sliding door paper and _still _rule a whole country because _force _isn't a recognized tool of leadership anymore. What's worse, while the people remain weak and complacent, all the _superheroes _out there are defying the natural order. Survival of the fittest, where the strong rule and the weak submit to their whim," he said throwing his arms about dramatically, the flames rising in accordance to his will. "With that in mind, I, have a dream. A dream where myself and three others, the strongest of our generation who control the four forces of this world, Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, can rise up, and put the world under our _heel_," he said stomping a flower into the dust with the sole of his boot. "That is why I approach you this day. Because with the only ones who can control air being robots, _you're _the only human who can manipulate the sky above like I can will the raging flames into existence," he said pointing to the brunette.

"Oh great. A_nother_ maniac," Vent huffed. _Only difference being... _this _maniac has power. A deadly combination._

"Ventus my boy, I honestly don't see why you associate yourself with these so-called _Titans_," the red-head said almost _scathingly _towards the Titans down the mountain who were doing everything they could to save lives, juggling their battles between Fire, Lightning, and the reluctant Thunder. "You're meant for so much _more _than stopping petty thefts or fighting off petty criminals. You should be _ruling _the people rather than bending over and doing all the heavy lifting for them. That is why you and I, the Two of Four, must gather the re_maining _Two of Four, one who can control the stoic earth and the rolling waves, under our flag."

"Don't you mean _your _flag?" Vent asked. "I have no desire to rule the world. Too much trouble involved, and _someone _will always disagree with whomever leads, so why go through all that trouble. Besides, I go where the wind takes me," he said referring to his past lifestyle.

"And yet you settle yourself _here _of all places," he said looking at Jump as though it were _Jersey_. "Face it Vent, people like us, who wield great power, the people might love you now for your gifts, but give it time, and they'll _despise _you for it. Grow jealous that they have no such gifts and turn their backs on you. That's just how hypocritical these human beings are."

"And yet you talk as though you're _not _human," Vent remarked.

"Kid, whenever a visionary like myself or others would rise up, their own ideals conflicting with that of the complacent people, they always call _us _monsters, even though _our kind _has only been around for a few years, and humanity's been screwing itself over for the past _centuries_," Pyro spoke. "We with power are no more human than they are _saints_. People who would do nothing for another be it theft, beating, or rape. That's why, I say it's time that WE RULE!" he said extending his hands to the sides, wide gouts of flames blazing from the air an inch away from his palms and incinerating the trees to his left and right, causing another forest fire.

"Vent, what's going on up there?" Cy said from the T-Communicator. "Fire is all the way down here, and suddenly there's _another_ forest fire where we left you!"

"It's a pyrokinetic! He's using the fire to boost his powers!" Vent cried as the flames greedily licked at whatever they could.

"Then we'll send someone up there to back you up!" he stated.

"No! Stop Fire! The people's lives are more important!" Vent shouted back into his communicator, the man watching on as though he were watching a drama unfold.

"What does the guy even _want_? There's no profit in a forest fire!" Beast Boy said from his communicator.

"Says he wants me to help him and three others take over the world and... I'll have to call you back! Get here as soon as you can!" he said shutting the T-Comm. _Hurry up guys. I don't think I can take this one on my own. Heh, ain't _that _my life's story? _he thought with disdain.

"A change in attitude, yes? Do you _know _one of the four Elemental Manipulators that I am seeking for my plans then?" Pyro asked smugly.

"Maybe. But I won't tell _you_," he hissed.

"Oooh. _Tough _guy. But who said I was giving you a _choice_?" the man asked as the fires round him intensified, the brunette sweating as the flames began to spread while the man himself didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "You cannot hope to defeat me! Air grants _further _power to fire! The more you fight me, the more powerful I shall become! Just turn yourself over quietly and I won't have to damage the merchandise," he said in a condescending tone.

"Never!" Vent shouted as he got in a fighting stance, the bandana's tails billowing in the wind.

"Wrong answer!" the man shouted swinging his arm out, throwing a wall of flame towards Vent who quickly ducked behind a tree and pressed his back to it, the flora beginning to burn as the fires were parted around him. When the fire receded, he quickly rolled out and threw a couple of airbolts at him hoping to knock him out, only for the man to raise a wall of flame as a shield, which burned brightly from the additional fuel fed. "What's the matter kid? Can't keep up?" the man asked as he started chucking fireballs at him, piles of dry leaves and foliage going up in flames.

"Dammit. _*pant pant pant* _Even if I _weren't _tired from that fight earlier, I wouldn't be any better off," Vent panted as he leaned against a fallen tree, the man calling out to him as though he were a lost animal. Treating the fight as though it were some sort of game to him. "Maybe I _should've _called the others," he sighed hanging his head in defeat.

"What is this? Losing your fighting spirit already?" a new voice asked, causing the teen to look up. At the moment sitting on an uncharred branch was a silver-haired maiden with alabaster white skin, her hair tied in a high ponytail that fluttered slightly in the wind. She wore a thin fishnet mesh that covered the entirety of her body, stopping at her neck, wrists, and ankles. Over that she wore segmented silver black-trimmed samurai armor on her forearms, shins, hips, and a breastplate on her chest with a spiral and wisps on the right side decorating it, a matching knee-length loincloth billowing in the wind. She wore wooden geta on her feet, carried a fan made with three large leaves in her hand, and had a decorative mask of some long-nosed deity on the left side of her head like an over-sized hair accessory. "I thought I'd found _someone _interesting amongst you humans that I could relate to, but I guess I was wrong," she sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.

"I'm sorry do I know you?" Vent asked with a scowl, really not in the mood for any bullshit right now.

"No. But you know my idiot _cousins_. The little one took a pot shot at you because he thought it would be _amusing_," she sighed pointing to where Thunder and Lightning were currently duking it out amongst themselves, lightning bolts and thunderclaps abound. "My name is Zephyr, the western wind. I'm to the wind itself what they are to thunder and lightning, though their powers are a branch-off of my mother's."

"Another supernatural being eh?" Pyro asked coming up to the two, Vent poking his head above the log to see the man walking towards them. "Normally I'd ask you to join since an aerokinetic in _any _form is rare, but I'm looking for _human _element manipulators. Sorry."

"Racist," the girl huffed with crossed arms.

"Maybe yes, maybe no. One can't be racist against a _concept _can they?" Pyro asked.

"Well _you _certainly emulate your element well enough," Zephyr sighed, the pyrokinetic launching a gout of flame towards her. When she made no attempt to dodge _–possibly out of having some form of invulerability-, _Vent quickly took off into the air, pulling her out of the way but got grazed by the searing flames in the process as he fought to gain some distance from the red-head who was lazily walking towards them. "You didn't have to do that you know. Fire can't hurt beings like myself," she said as the teen removed his shirt and started kicking dirt onto it to put out the flames, taking the time to notice he had a decent build for one who manipulated the _least _physical of the elements.

"Well exc_uuu_se me for not knowing," Vent huffed as he was able to stomp the flames out, the T-shirt now useless. "And what's this about me losing my fighting spirit? I have plenty, but everything I do only makes this guy _stronger_. You saw me trying to face that flaming golem. My powers are _useless _here!"

"Maybe so, or maybe not," Zephyr said with a shrug of her shoulders. "While it's true that elemental cycles are designed to go in one direction, push an element far enough and even _flame _can stop a torrential flood."

"Push an element far enough... That's it!" he said with a light bulb going off above his head. "Thankyou thankyou thankyou thankyou!" he cried in joy as he hugged the elemental girl and spun around out of happiness.

"Awww, how cute. Like two peas in a pod," Pyro said scathingly as he came up upon the two, taking a bit of joy out of seeing a supposedly supernatural being flustered by a "mere human". If anything, he thought that these "elemental beings" were nothing more than some form of humanoid alien. There plenty of those running around to make that hypothesis valid anyway. "So... Are you going to tell me where your element-manipulating friend is? It would save me _so _much trouble as opposed to combing this planet to look for him or her on my own."

"I'll _never _tell!" Vent said with feet spread and renewed vigor.

"Hmph. We'll see how long that lasts," Pyro said with a smirk as he launched a gout of flame towards a tree's base, igniting it, the flames slowly licking up to the top. "Oh, don't tell me you're going to try and put out my fire _again_," the red-head noted as Vent stared intently at the flames with his hands at his sides. "Don't you think _enough _innocent trees have suffered enough?" he asked before Vent's eyes and hands suddenly glowed silver, the latter of which he brought together in front of himself sending a thick column of wind forward, the flames in their path flickering before they were suddenly snuffed out. "WHAT?"

"I'll admit, you had me stumped for a while there, what with how air is one of the _fuels _of fire," Vent noted as he wagged his finger. "But then I learned something very important. The very same thing that can _make _fire, can also put it out," he smirked as he assumed a fighting stance, his eyes and hands glowing silver as the man's glowed bright orange. "So come on! Show me what you got hotspot!"

"Just because you put out a little fire doesn't mean you can stop an _inferno_!" Pyro shouted as he threw both fists forward, a massive gout of flame flying right at Ventus and Zephyr. Holding his hands like claws crossed in front of his chest, he threw his arms across his chest and greatly decreasing the density of the air that the column of flame had to go through to reach him, then bringing his hands together and snuffing the flames out with an air-borne shockwave. "Hm. Creative. But, let's see you stop my _firewalls_!" he cackled launching two fireballs to his left and right before placing his welding goggles over his eyes, throwing his arms forward and cutting twin swaths of flame through the forest across the ground as he blocked the two aerokinetic's side flanks. "Let's see you dodge _this_!" he shouted as he held out his hands like guns and began firing flaming bullets at the two, Vent taking Zephyr's hand and running up the hill as shots peppered wherever it was they hid.

"I don't get it. Why use flaming _walls _to stop us when we can just take to the skies?" Zephyr asked, wrenching her hand free and flying by her own power.

"Being around so much fire can't be good for your eyes, so that's why he must be using those welding goggles. To compensate for the blindspots they create, he must've formed these walls to make sure we can't leave his line of sight," Vent explained as he barely weaved through another hail of fire bullets, the end of his bandana going up in flame forcing him to discard it. "He knows we can both fly, so he must have a contingency plan to deal with that," he said as the two hid behind a pair of rocks, the stone outcroppings shielding them from the flame bullets as Pyro began to stride towards them, his flaming bullets beginning to melt the rock they were using for cover.

"It isn't really my business to say, but you've used your powers to make a tornado right?" Zephyr asked.

"Yeah, but it's no good here. They'd only fan the flames, and him getting thrown around wouldn't stop him if he can use his powers to fly," Vent stated as a chip on the top of his rocky outcropping was shot off.

"Oh, I just thought you could've lined the inside of the tornado with _wind blades _and cut him up a bit, but if you haven't even gotten that far yet, then maybe the most you can do is try and snuff out the flames before your friends get here," the wind elemental said shrugging her shoulder, more of a passive observer instead of an active fighter.

"Blade of wind... I've only tried making air waves and currents before. Nothing like an actual _blade_," the brunette noted, possibilities for new attacks filling his head if he could make cutting projectiles. His airbolts were useful, but only packed so much force, and wouldn't do much good on larger or armored enemies. "Wiiiind... Swoooord..." he called out as he held his hand out, trying to form a shaft of wind energy like he'd seen Kuwabara do for his Spirit Sword, only for it to maintain no real blade-like form.

"Forming blades aren't a black-and-white concept. Be a little _creative _about it," Zephyr stated offhandedly, having watched the brunette's rather sloppy attempt at creating a wind blade.

"You two can't hide there forever!" Pyro said, the two ends of the flaming walls curling inward and creating a dead end. "You try to punch through my flames and I'll know. You try to take to the skies and I'll shoot you down. On the ground you're nothing more than charcoal, so why don't you just come around to my side and join me?" Pyro asked as he strode towards them, the dry leaves at his feet catching fire, while none of it seemed to be doing him any damage, almost as if it were moving _around _him.

"You certainly _talk _a lot don't you?" Vent asked as he prepared to get up and face the opponent. He knew one way or another he'd have to end the fighting within the next few minutes, or if he wasn't able to win use Asymmetric Warfare and just make it not _profitable _to continue fighting.

"Such is the privilege of those with power," Pyro returned. "We can talk all we want and no one can stop us."

"That or because you like hearing the sound of your own voice," Zephyr stated as she fanned herself in a bored tone.

"You know Pyro, I've been dealing with a lot of _crap _since I came to this city, but do you want to know why I chose to stay?" the brunette asked. "It's because I know I'll always have someone watching my back. Joining you on the other hand, and the four that you think will work _with _you will actually be working _under _you, who will end up competing amongst one another until the whole arrangement falls apart."

"You think too two-dimensionally," Pyro said condescendingly with his fingers to his forehead. "I've run _countless _situations on how to keep everyone in line. Whether it's by choice or not, you _will _help me take over this world."

"Sorry 'bout this, but I'm going to have to stop you right here," Vent said as he leapt out from behind the rock he was hiding behind, his right index and middle fingers extended. "If the Kamaitachi no Jutsu can be regarded as a swarm of wind kunai..." he said as two currents of air spiralling around his arm began to grind against one another like a pair of scissors. "Then _this _technique is an unavoidable longsword," he noted aloud, earning a confused look from the pyrokinetic before he sprung into action. "Kaze no Yaiba!" he called out as he rolled his hand around and swung upward, an "unavoidable longsword" slashing Pyro across his left hip to his right shoulder, a splash of blood in the air causing his eyes to widen at the force used. "To quote a friend of mine. _*Gasp* _Did I let him have too much?" he asked, though on the inside he was panicking about causing this much damage to a living human. Cinderblock and Plasmus didn't count, for obvious reasons mind you.

"Heh... You think a little... paper cut like this... will be enough to stop someone like me?" he asked as his hands glowed orange before he slammed them onto his chest, his flames cauterizing the wound leaving a thin red scar as it began to rain. "Fine, I'll let you go, for now. But watch out. Once I have my brethren with me, I'll be back, and you can take that as a _promise_. Not some idle threat," he said with narrowed eyes before he raised a ball of fire into the air before slamming it onto the ground. When Vent had snuffed out the flames, the pyrokinetic was gone, and that the walls of flame had begun to go out on their own. Looking around, the brunette saw that the deluge had begun putting the fires out, and while he hadn't been able to keep them from spreading too far out, he'd stopped the _entire _hillside from going up in smoke.

"Hm. I must say I'm impressed. You did fairly well during that little bout of yours," Zephyr then spoke. After awaiting an answer, she looked down to see the brunette face down on the ground, clearly exhausted from the powers he'd displayed. "_*Sigh*_ And here I thought I had someone to kick my idiot brothers around when I didn't want to. Oh well. Best get him back to his friends I suppose," she said throwing him over her shoulder before leaping off into the skies.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the Titans had been able to hold Fire off for only so long, but thanks to Thunder and Lightning's combined efforts, they were able to create a deluge and put out the flaming demon. As everyone celebrated, Thunder and Lightning then came down the mountain, thought the latter showed clearly that he'd rather be doing anything else.<p>

"I am sorry for the trouble we have made," Thunder said bowing, then nudging his brother who also faced forward.

"I am... also sorry," the lightning elemental admitted as he bowed forward.

"You have taught us much, green one. Thank you," Thunder added.

"Don't thank me," Beast Boy said pointing to Starfire. "Thank the person who taught me," he finished, the three exchanging bows.

"And thank you for helping to defeat the flame monster," she said in gratitude.

"Hey Titans, I think in your haste to celebrate you may've forgotten something," a feminine voice then said from the sky, the two groups looking up to see a silver maiden carrying the Titan's brunette over her shoulder, a whirlwind around her legs as she descended. It was at that moment that Thunder and Lightning recognized her, the latter showing fear contradicting all the flak he'd been giving everyone prior.

"C-C-Cousin! I-It's great to see you again," Lightning said nervously as the silver maiden approached them.

"Thunder. Lightning. I thought I told you not to make the family look bad," the woman said before throwing the person she was carrying over her shoulder to Cyborg. "The wind-user is fine. Just tired. Apparently some fire bender decided to take advantage of what was going on and empower himself."

"Fire bender? You mean that golem wasn't the _only _thing we had to worry about?" BB cried.

"Not anymore. Kid left a fairly obvious scar across his chest, and it'll be a while before he comes back from what I can figure," Zephyr said looking at the sleeping brunette one more time. "Be sure to keep the kid in one piece for me. Out of all you humans... he seems to be the most interesting," she said with crossed arms. "Now, as for _you _two!" she said grabbing the two's ears and pulled them down, being around Raven's height. "Apologize for all the trouble you caused so we can go home. The two of you are in for one _hell _of a lecture when we get back!"

"But sister, we _did _apologize," Thunder stated even as his ear was being pulled on, causing him to slouch.

"NOT _CARING_!" Zephyr shouted. "NOW APOLOGIZE FOR MAKING TOTAL _ASSES _OF YOURSELVES!"

"Gomenasai! Gomenasai! Gomenasai!" the two brothers apologized, confirming Rae's suspicions that they were Japanese-born supernatural beings.

"Good. Now let's go home," she said suddenly shooting off into the heavens in a gale-force wind, a streak of yellow and blue electricity being dragged behind her as the three entered the heavens.

"So, Slade wants to destroy the city. Question is, why?" Cy asked.

"I don't' know, but I will find out, and he won't get away with it," Robin said adamantly.

"I'm just glad _tonight _is over," Rae said noting the pile of ashes that used to be the flaming golem. Looking to the brunette's hanging arm, she then noticed that droplets of blood were dripping from his fingers. "He's been injured, if only slightly, but we should get that fixed up up," she said as she began healing the teen's middle and index fingers, both of which had cuts running down them to the underside of the second-furthest knuckles. "Come on. Let's go home," she said following Cy in case Vent needed any more attention, Robin heading for the tower to get a good night's sleep, leaving Starfire and Beast Boy to reconcile with one another.

"So... am I, you know... still a clorbag?" Beast Boy asked nervously.

"Mmm-no. I believe you are more of a... milnip wusserloop," she said with a bit of mirth.

"SWEET!" he cackled as he started dancing. "Go Beast Boy! I'm a milnip! Who's your wuserloop? Huh?" he said before turning to Starfire. "That is a good thing... right Star?" he asked, the girl simply giggling and flying off, Beast Boy hot-footing it back home.

* * *

><p>The next evening after everyone had gotten few hours sleep, Vent now sat on the edge of the roof overlooking the city as the sun began to set in the distance, the flaming ball that gave life to the earth colored red as the light now had to travel much farther than at any time of the day.<p>

"Well, looks like I finally found some opponents I can face on my own," Vent said with a smile. "If another lightning-manipulator shows up, I can just insulate his attacks, or if another pyrokinetic shows up, _now _I know how to snuff out their flames," he said concentrating a ball of low-density air in his hands before releasing it. "Looks like things are finally turning around for me."

"It would seem so," Robin said making his presence known as he stepped onto the roof.

"Hey Robin. Heard you found Slade," Vent said as the Boy Wonder took a seat beside him.

"Yeah, but the guy was wearing a mask _behind _a mask, so I don't know what he looks like."

"That kinda _is _the point of a mask," he said sarcastically, causing the boy to scowl. "Sorry man, but you _kinda _walked into that one."

"Yeah, I guess so," Robin sighed. "Anyway, Star told me about how you were able to fight Lightning on equal terms, even when the others couldn't. Guess you found that one enemy you can fight on your own."

"Yeah..." Vent said despondently. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't go back to you and the others to hold of Lightning and Thunder. Air is an excellent insulator for electricity, but I was so caught up in my own guilt for losing all the time that I guess I lost sight of what was really important."

"Well, _sure _you could've fought Lightning, but then that Pyro guy would've razed half the forest while we were preoccupied. You did the right thing not following us, even if you didn't know it at the time," Robin said putting a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Guess so," Vent returned. "But, looks like I've got my _own _Slade to worry about. The way that Pyro guy was talking, it sounded like he'd given the entire affair a lot of thought. And I don't think mere _words _are going to dissuade him. Maybe _nothing _will dissuade him."

"Well just remember, we're a team, and we'll always be here to back you up," Robin returned as he got up.

"For how long though?" Vent asked. "How long will we _really _be a team? Will we eventually split off after growing up? Will we grow apart from one another after we begin our _own _superhero careers?"

"... I can't answer that in all honesty," Robin said scratching the back of his head. "But I _can _tell you this. Until that day comes, _if _we ever split up, until then we'll have each other's backs."

"... Thanks. Listen, think I could have some time alone? I need to think," he asked, the Boy Wonder nodding as he headed down the stairs, Vent lying on his back and looking up into the orange-tinted clouds across the purpling sky. "Air, Water, Earth, and Fire huh? Me and him, that's two. I have no idea where the _fourth _would be, but as for the third... I just hope she turns up before Pyro can sink his teeth into her," he sighed, thinking about a wandering soul like himself whom he'd met years ago.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own Street Fighter (High-Level Leg Sword Kick). Do not own Kingdom Hearts (reference). I do not own Naruto (Kaze no Yaiba).  
>Pyro is an OC created by me for use in this story, his name meaning "Fire" in Latin. Zephyr is an OC created by me for use in this story as well, her name's meaning having already been explained.<strong>


	9. The Mind's Four Eyes

It was nighttime in Jump City, and standing atop a capsized armored truck spilling out a veritable bullion of gold bars was the supervillain Dr. Light. The man was tall, thin, and had a beard, wearing a black skintight jumpsuit with silver accents and a light bulb on the front. Still, he was better than the dog-themed Dogman, who had to be put into an isolated cell and sedated on a daily basis.

"Your pathetic attacks can't outshine the brilliance of Dr. Light," the light-obsessed man cackled as he brought his hands together, firing a broad beam of yellow light at the Titans, who scattered to avoid the attack. Robin leapt high and threw a birdarang at the light-themed villain, only for him to leap down to avoid it and the teen's lunge. "You're fast, but I doubt you'll enjoy moving at the speed of _light_!" the man said as he touched the light bulb on his chest, sending out a wide-angled Omni Blast-esque attack and sending Robin over the roof of a nearby building. Beast Boy came around the corner and charged him, turning into a wolf mid-spring and charged the man who ducked under the changeling's initial rush. "A wolf is no threat when it's blind as a _bat_!" he cackled as he threw several glowing orbs at the lupine, the balls exploding in a series of brilliant flashes and completely disorienting him and effectively taking him out of the fight. The next moment Star flew overhead and launched a barrage of starbolts, Dr. Light creating a golden shield around himself to block the projectiles, which dropped after she ceased firing. He then threw a landmine-like device onto the street, its top opening as a walls of radiation rising up and trapping her within.

"Watch yourself, lightweight. Things are about to get heavy!" Cy said running at Dr. Light with half the car's front axle in hand, tire and all into a swing. The overhead attack missed, but the created tremor threw Dr. Light across the street. The villain then shot a concentrated beam from his hand and fired an intense beam that broke the makeshift club in half, then laughing as he launched a _red _beam at Cyborg. When the dust from the resulting explosion cleared, the Titan was now imbedded in the melted remains of the truck behind him.

"Uh! Hey! Let me go!" Cy cried as he tried to get out, the villain laughing before an airbolt suddenly nailed him in the back of the head. Turning around to see the brown-haired teen flying at him, the man then brought his index and middle fingers to both his temples, releasing a brilliant flash of light from his body and grounded the approaching teen.

"Dammit he hit me with a Solar Flare!" the brunette cried as he rubbed his eyes trying to ease the pain of his agitated corneas.

"Now if nobody minds, I'll be taking the gold," Dr. Light said walking towards the massive pile of gold to the side.

"I mind," Raven said floating a distance away. "Azarath Metrion Zin-" she chanted, only for a beam of light to hit her squarely on the chest and send her to the street. If you looked carefully enough, you could see the silhouette of a raven's head on the brooch holding her cloak together.

"Bit of advice. Find shorter magic words," Dr. Light said walking up to her as he charged a laser, a motorcycle on the curb sent flying towards him with a wave of the mage's hand, only for him to blow it apart. He then blasted her down the street, her back to him as he walked towards her.

"Don't come any closer..." she rasped out in a menacing tone.

"What's the matter? Afraid of the _light_?" he asked, the deeper meaning of the mage's words lost on him. This error would then cost him, the mage suddenly spinning around at him with a snarl and rage-filled eyes. A moment later she grew to an impossible height, almost three times taller than the lightweight as black tendrils shooting into the air from the darkness of her cloak. "No! No!" he cried as he backed up, the tendrils seizing his suit and causing sparks as he was pulled in. "My suit! What are you-no, stop, you win, I surrender!" he cried as he was dragged towards the shadows of the mage's billowing blue hem.

"_**What's the matter? Afraid of the **_**dark**_**?"**_ Raven asked in a demonic tone, her eyes blood red from within her hood's cowl, the man crying out in absolute terror as he was dragged into the darkness.

_Man... _Vent thought having finally gotten his sight back, though his eyes still stung like hell. _Never thought I'd actually see _this side _of tentacle rape, _he thought quickly clamping his eyes shut, regretting looking up while his corneas still throbbed in agony.

"RAVEN! STOP!" Robin cried as he ran towards her, the mage gasping sharply as she returned to her normal size. When her cloak receded, it revealed Dr. Light curled up in the fetal position on the pavement. "It's okay. You're going to be alright," Robin said trying to comfort the terrified man.

"It was... so... so dark... make it stop... make it stop... make it stop..." he shuddered, eyes widened in absolute fear as he shook, his body, armor, and possibly mind looking like they had aged a decade within the span of a single second.

"Dude! Raven, what did you do?" Beast Boy asked in shock after having helped free Cy from the slough of steel around him. Turning to face him, the mage's eyes were red like before, her snarl causing the changeling to back into Cyborg with a scream, the mage composing herself and stalked away into the shadows of the alleyway. "What's her deal?" the changeling asked as the aerokinetic ran over to the alleyway.

"Raven. Raven is there something wrong?" Vent asked placing his hand on the wall and looking for her, only to find she'd already vanished into the shadows. _Raven... What's happening?_

* * *

><p>"Rise and shine, amigos," Beast Boy said the next morning as everyone sans Raven entered the living room, taking a seat at the table past the open-air kitchen while the changeling cooked breakfast while donning a chef's hat. "Breakfast is served," he said as he brought the steaming pan over.<p>

"Thanks, Beast Boy. Everything looks great," Robin said as he was served.

"On my planet, such a feast would mark the arrangement of a marriage," Star explained as the changeling served the others. "Tell me, Beast Boy, to whom re you engaged?" she asked throwing her "daily curveball", causing Beast Boy to shout in surprise and jump back, nearly losing his hat in the process. Cyborg and Ventus on the other hand were wolfing down their food, the prior belching loudly before both their expressions changed to that of a person who'd just eaten a skunk ass-first. While Cy spit it out in disgust, Vent retched but held his meal down.

"That's not eggs! That's that tofu stuff!" the cyborg cried out while the aerokinetic's body seemed to be disagreeing with what it was that he ate. He then drained the nearby glass of its contents in an attempt to wash down what he ate, the liquid soon going the way of the food he'd just eaten. "That's not even real _milk_!" he cried, Vent moving the glass away from his lips as he shook off the approaching migraine. Giving off a depressed frown, Raven entered the door to the kitchen, paying the room's occupants no mind as she made her way to the counter and began pouring a cup.

"Hey Raven. Want some breakfast?" the changeling offered. "It's good. Wakey-wakey, tofu eggs and bakey," he offered.

"Herbal tea," the girl returned.

"Come on, just one little taste. You could _use _a little food after the way you cooked Dr. Light," he pleaded, the girl whirling around to face him with eyes burning red.

"NO!" Raven cried angrily, her powers leaking onto the plate he held, causing the eggs to explode upwards like a volcano, leaving him covered in the tofu eggs he'd cooked. With a strangled little noise as he dropped the plate, the residential mage turning away and leaving via the sliding door, which closed behind him.

"Beast Boy, no one wants your nasty-ass eggs," Vent grumbled rudely with narrowed eyes, a vein throbbing on his forehead as the Boy Wonder strode over to him.

"Maybe you should go apologize."

"_Me_? I'm not the one who turned breakfast into a battlefield!" he cried irately as Cyborg walked over carrying the dishes.

"Yeah, but after the weirdness that went down last night, you should know better than to go messing with her," he said depositing the dishes in the sink.

"I was trying to be nice, but no matter how hard I try, she _still _treats me like tofu eggs!" he cried irately, the brunette huffing while Cyborg washed the dishes. "You know, she's never once laughed at any of my jokes."

"'Least she listens. I just kinda tune you out," Cy said.

"Amen brother," Vent said bumping knuckles with the cyborg, a little storm cloud appearing over the disgruntled teen's head.

"Raven is complicated. There is much about her we are not meant to understand," Starfire stated.

"Then how are we supposed to deal with her? How can we trust her? I mean-"

"She's our friend. What more do we need to know?" Robin asked.

"If _that _isn't good enough an answer for you, then how about this?" Vent offered with crossed arms from the counter. "Don't believe in her. Believe in the _you _who believes in her," he said sipping from his cup, then yakking it out remembering what it was.

"Dude, that doesn't even make any sense," Beast Boy stated flatly.

"It doesn't have to, it's _manly_!" the brunette stated as he dug into the fridge and get some _real _breakfast. _Fucking tofu eggs... Fucking tofu milk... _he growled lowly to himself.

* * *

><p>A while later, Beast Boy was standing before Raven's door, whatever mental machinery lay between his ears working in overdrive as he attempted to figure out how to apologize for agitating Raven that morning. After scratching his head for a few seconds, he gingerly raised his fist, turning his head away as he would from an explosion and barely tapping the door.<p>

"Oh well. Nobody's home," he said relieved as he turned around, only to bump into Cyborg's metal chassis, Vent behind him with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. _What crawled up _his _ass and died? _the changeling asked himself, not liking the dark look the brunette was giving him.

"You might want to knock a little louder," Cy said turning the changeling around and knocking on the door loudly, the door falling off its hinges on the final knock.

"Great. Now we have to apologize," Beast Boy groaned.

"This is the first I've seen of Raven's room," Vent noted looking around, expecting her to be sitting in the darkest corners. And then kill them for entering her room. "Medieval gothic with a touch of the arcane. Quite fitting for the residential mage," he noted around, feeling like he'd stepped into the domain of a powerful sorcerer in an RPG. The shelves were filled with old books and grimoirs, four-eyed tragedy and comedy masks on a pedestal, a hexagonalally-shaped mirror mounted on the wall, chalices and braziers abound, a bed partly recessed into the far wall, and a large globe in the corner. The entire place was done in shades of gray and black, the brunette gaining a much clearer understanding of what had laid behind the girl's doors.

"Uh, Raven? Sorry about the door. Raven?" Cy asked looking around.

"Dude, she's not here. Come on," Beast Boy said leading the group into the room. "Heh. Looks like Halloween came _early _this year."

"_We're in Raven's room. We should _not _be in Ravens' room. She doesn't let _anyone _into her room,"_ Cyborg whispered.

"So this is our big chance to find out about her," the Changeling noted.

"_And maybe get a one-way trip to hell," _the brunette noted grimly. _Maybe I'll trip Beast Boy when Rae goes on the warpath. Save my _own _skin, and Cy's too if I can help it. Two of _them _die and the only other guy in the house will be Robin, and we're alike as chalk and cheese._

"For instance..." Beast Boy laughed picking up a hand mirror with a black frame adorned with black horns and red diamonds on it. "Check out this _beauty _mirror. Who woulda thought Raven spends time sprucing? Ah! Is that a zit!" he asked poking his cheek. The next moment two pairs of glowing red eyes superimposed themselves onto his image, clearing a moment later as he gasped and dropped the mirror to the floor with a cry of fear. The next moment a red-rimmed swath of black energy shot up from the mirror, shaping itself into an arm and grabbed the changeling. As the changeling was suddenly shaken back and forth, Cyborg paid him no mind while heading for the doorway, Vent watching with a grin as dark shadows were cast across his face.

"Hey Cy. Beast Boy's getting raped by a Floormaster," Vent said tapping the cyborg's shoulder as he pulled out his camcorder and recorded Beast Boy flailing about.

"Yo!" Cy cried as BB was being dragged downwards, Vent snickering as he grabbed one ankle while the cyborg grabbed the other, all three being sucked in before the mirror gave off a small puff of smoke.

* * *

><p>"Beast Boy you stupid fuUUUUUUUK!" Vent cried as he and the others fell out of a red and black portal born of chaotic energy, the two nearly crushing him as they landed on a floating stone platform in the middle of a outer space, filled with red stars and a few large asteroids. "You're lucky I didn't break my camera." <span>"AIIIIGH!"<span> "Hahahahaha! I am _so _putting this on the internet," Vent chuckled darkly as he pocketed the camcorder.

"Uh... Where are we?" Beast Boy asked looking around.

"You're asking the wrong robot," Cy said tapping his forearm controls. "My sensors must be on the blink, 'cause they're saying we're in Titans Tower."

"Riiiight. So how do we get back?" the changeling asked.

"We start walking and find _out, _you dipshit," Vent grumbled as he stepped over the edge of the platform. Cy and BB gasped when he dropped from view before a stone platform with him on it rose up, several rock fragments forming a winding path as well.

"_Man, why's Vent acting like such a jerk now?" _Beast Boy whispered.

"_Maybe 'cause you fed him tofu eggs and tofu _milk_," _Cy stated as they began to walk, not even a minute passing before he made a crappy joke.

"If sending us to Weirdsville's Raven's idea of a joke, I am _so _not laughing."

"Hey, she didn't sent us here. _You _were the one snooping in her room and popping zits in her magic mirror," Cy grumbled back.

"Who booby-traps a mirror?"

"Maybe it _wasn't _a trap. Maybe it's Raven's way home," Cy said looking around. "Maybe this is where it's from."

"Definitely creepy enough," Beast Boy stated.

"_**Turn back,"**_ a feminine child-like voice suddenly said, causing everyone to pivot and look behind them.

"Like I was saying..." Beast Boy said looking around, whereas _Vent _actually followed the sound of the voice to a rocky arch over the path. Perched were three small black birds with large red eyes.

"_**Turn back,"**_ the black chick repeated.

"Sweet! Becha they can tell us how to get home," BB said happily.

"I'd watch my ass, grass stain," Vent huffed looking at the birds warily. "Those things might end up _raping _your ass. Just like that Floormaster," he chuckled darkly, taking out his camcorder just in case.

"Scathing comment _aside_, the name's _Beast_ Boy, remember? If they were dangerous, I would know," he said before turning to the arch and adopting a tone one would use with a small kitten. "Hey little guys. My buddies and I were wondering it-" he said before the birds disappeared. His eyes turning to the ground, the three chickies continued to repeat- **"**_**Turn back.**_**"** –their beaks suddenly elongating and sprouting rows of sharp teeth, their eyes splitting into two smaller ones as they snarled, freaking out Best Boy who ran into Cyborg, whereas Vent just laughed like a madman while waiting for Beast Boy to get "raped" again. As if on cue, the trio of birds then multiplied into a flock of dark ravens, who flocked past Cy and Vent in favor of the fleeing shapeshifter, who opted to transform into a hippopotamus and opened its mouth wide, a trio of ravens perching on his tongue before he snapped his jaws shut. Squirming inside, the hippo then opened its mouth and shook them off after they had clamped their beaks onto his lingual muscle.

"Go evil chocobos! WHOOO!" the brunette cheered, the camera now following Cy as the flock of ravens began attacking him, Beast Boy nursing his injured tongue.

"Get 'em off me! Get 'em off me!" Cy cried as he ran down the platform as the birds attacked him, Vent laughing as the birds began chasing Beast Boy too, who took the form of an ostrich and began running across the stone platform back and forth. "Cut it out!" he cried now riding BB in llama form and firing away with his sonic cannon. Firing a few shots high, one flew low where Cy tried to blast it, the cyborg firing straight down. "Aw mAAAN!" he cried as the path beneath suddenly gave way, his hand dug into the animal's pelt while Ventus simply floated in the air with crossed arms, having lost interest in recording the "two stooges" performance until something more interesting came up.

"Hey guys," a familiar but cheerful voice suddenly spoke up, the guys looking up to see Raven standing upside down on the platform with no ill effects, her blue clothing now pink. "What's up?"

"I don't _know_ anymore," Cy said in a small voice, Vent turning 180 degrees before Cyborg cried out and fell down _–or up- _onto the path. "Woah!" he cried as they slammed down, Raven giggling as Beast Boy got to his feet.

"Raven? How did-where are-what just- Why are you wearing pink?" the changeling suddenly asked.

"Cause it's my favorite color," she said giggling.

"It is?" BB asked in shock, Vent taking a few pics with the silver spy camera clipped to his beltloop for later use before clipping it back down.

"Look, I'd love to talk fashion, but I don't suppose you know how to get home," Cy stated.

"The Forbidden Door," Raven said motioning to an arch down the path on a distant asteroid. "It's the only way out, but you don't want to go there. Not now."

"Uh... Yeah, we do," Cy stated.

"Kay, but don't say I didn't warn you," she said as she headed towards the arch, making airplane sounds and stretching her arms out like wings before she ran through the archway and disappeared.

"Have you _ever _seen her this happy?" Cy asked as they headed for the arch.

"Dude, I didn't even know Raven could _do _happy," he said as they headed through the arch, the dark and dreary landscape fading away in lieu of a peaceful-looking landscape under a bright yellow sky, the path threading through a huge meadow filled with pink grass and trees. "... I think this is where _air _fresheners come from," Beast Boy then stated as he watched a giant strawberry float by.

"Hahahaha! Good one!" Raven giggled.

"You're laughing?" Cy asked in shock.

"At one of _my _jokes?" Beast Boy asked.

"Sure. I've _always _thought you were funny BB. But hey, looks aren't everything," she returned.

"Oh you are just a_dorable_!" Vent cooed to the pink-garbed Raven, doing a total 180 from his snarky demure. "Come on, you gotta let me hug you, you are just _precious_," he said running over to her with a wide grin on his face, the pink-clad mage running through the field of flowers towards him and practically _leaping _into his arms, the two of them spinning around as Raven wrapped her arms around his neck, flower petals rising up into the wind while BB and Cy's jaws just dropped, the sound of a screeching record going off in their heads at the sight.

"Uh, BB, you seeing what I'm seeing?" BB asked.

"I dunno. She kinda lost me when she said you were _funny_," Cy stated, seeing the two laughing and giggling like a couple of looneys.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at Titans Tower, a blue-garbed Raven sat on the roof and meditated cross-legged, Robin and Starfire walking up behind her.<p>

"Raven... you okay? We stopped by your room and the door's been knocked down," he said with all the subtlety of a car crash.

"Haha HAHAHAHAHA!" Raven laughed before suddenly stopping. "Need to be alone," she then said demurely heading down the stairs and to her room, disappearing as though she had passed through a barrier.

"Many of your Earthly ways are still strange to me, but that was... just plain freaky. Correct?" Star asked.

* * *

><p>"She <em>ditched<em> us! I can't believe Raven _ditched_ us!" Beast Boy cried irately as they made their way down the path. She and the brunette had been bounding through the flower fields and giggling up a storm up until a second ago when the prior had disappeared, the latter returning to their sides with a plain expression on his face like nothing had happened. "Next time I see her, it's not gonna be pretty," the changeling grumbled right before the scenery dissolved into the outer-space region from before.

"Hey, I know where we are! We're in that place where I didn't know where we were before," Cy groaned as he rubbed his head, a gray-clad Raven suddenly popping up and scaring the living daylights out of them, only now she had a very said and fearful facial expression.

"WHERE WERE YOU? SHOPPING FOR ROBES!" the changeling demanded angrily, the now gray-clad mage crying under the boy's piercing gaze and trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Beast Boy, shut up!" the brunette said angrily as he bopped the green-teen over the head before turning to the gray-clad mage, said changeling nursing a bump over his head. "There there Rae, it's okay. No one's mad at you," he said pulling crying girl into a hug. For a moment the girl stiffened at the contact, but she eventually returned it, resting her head on his chest and once again shocking BB and Cy. "Feel better?" he asked quietly, having turned a total 180 from before.

"Can... _*sniff* _Can we stay like this? Just for a little bit?" the gray-clad girl asked timidly as she fisted his shirt in her hand and hugged him to her tighter.

"Sure," the brunette returned, stroking her back to make her feel better, shooting a dark glare at the changeling from over the crying girl's shoulder. The look pretty much said, _"Step out of line one more time and I will fucking _kill _you."_

"_Uh Cy, have you noticed that Vent's acting a lot more... bipolar than usual?"_ Beast Boy asked worriedly.

"_Yeah. His Beta and Alpha Brainwaves have been on the high road since this morning," _the Cyborg returned, watching the brunette comfort the crying mage. _"Maybe it was the _eggs_," _he said using the brainwave monitor built into his arm.

"Rae?" the brunette asked her in a soothing voice.

"Y-Yes?" Raven asked as she looked up at him.

"Tell me, is that the Forbidden Door over there?" he asked pointing to the ornate arch in the distance, the girl nodding to him worriedly, as though she had broken a person's window or stomped on a person's foot.

"Come on y'all! We're almost-" was as far as Cy got running forward before a stone surface rose up from the ground to block his path. "Woah!" he cried falling onto his ass, Vent pulling Raven to his chest and readying a magazine of air bullets as numerous walls rose up and boxed them in. A moment later BB transformed into a hawk and tried to _fly _out of the labyrinth, only for an invisible forcefield to electrocute him before sending him to the ground.

"Great," Cy grumbled as he brought out his cannon.

"Oh man, we gotta get out of here!" BB cried worriedly as he nused his head, Cyborg blasting several walls but not even putting a _scratch _on them.

"It's a maze. You can't get out. You have to go through," Raven said timidly as Vent released his air bullet. "I can show you the way, but when we reach the end, you won't like me anymore. _*sniff* _He al_ready _doesn't like me," she sobbed as she motioned towards Beast Boy.

"Come on. That's not..." Beast Boy said sadly as Raven walked off, leaving his embrace but holding onto his arm like a scared child as she led them down the corner. "Gee Raven, moody much?" he asked.

"First Vent, and now Raven. It's like they're entirely different people," Cy noted as they were led through the maze. A minute in, Raven started apologizing to them for stuff she'd done and things she'd said to them before, the brunette giving her a fond smile whenever she had to apologize to him, the gray-clad mage's robe flashing pink too fast for the others to notice as he smiled at her.

"And... remember the time I called you both immature pinheads? I'm sorry about that too. And also the-"

"For the hundredth, millionth time..." Beast Boy groaned. "We forgive you!" both he and Cy called out as they rounded the corner. At that moment they had stopped at a wall identical to the others, Raven releasing Vent's arm and waves timidly towards it, the wall sliding open like an interlocking pair of doors to reveal a short path that led to the path out of the maze. Right at the edges of the exit were a pair of stone statues, both wearing long cloaks with faces to match the masks in Raven's room, each having only one arm on the side that was closest to the wall.

"That's the end!" Cy cried happily as Beast Boy whooped –"Sweet!"- "All right Raven!" he whooped as he and the others headed for the egress, though she did not join them. Looking up, Ventus whipped out his camera just in time for the smiling statue's eyes to glow red followed by the frowning one. The next moment they slammed back to back, and three quick half-turns later showing a smile, then a frown, and then another smile, a pair of longswords suddenly materialized in the statue's hands as the combined form grew a second set of arms.

"What?" Cy gaped.

"No way," Beast Boy groaned alongside Cy.

"Sweet! Boss battle!" the brunette cheered. "Hey grass stain, try not to die too quickly. I left my _Phoenix Down_ in my other _Tool Pouch,_ heheheh."

"Told you you wouldn't like me when we got here," Raven said before dropping out of view.

* * *

><p><span>"Stir continuously until thickened,"<span> a chef on the TV that Robin was watching spoke, the teen then flicking the channel and starting up a Western.

"May we go see if she is feeling better?" Starfire asked, while also wondering where Ventus went. _He normally asks to go out flying right about now, _she noted to herself.

"She said she wanted to be alone," Robin said flicking the channel.

* * *

><p>"WHOOOO! THREEE DEEE!" Vent whooped as he leapt into a flying kung fu kick at the two-faced statue and striking it in the face, Beast Boy having taken to the air in the form of a hawk while Cy retreated and fired off his cannon only for it to have no effect. Flying into a scratching attack, one of the statue's free hands suddenly grabbed Beast Boy and squeezed cruelly.<p>

"Yo! Eight-Eyes!" Raven's voice spoke, sounding radically different than before. "Hai-yah!" she yelled out as she kicked the statue across the face and sending it toppling to the ground. "Whoo-hoo! _In_ your _faces_!" she whooped, the guys noticing she was now garbed in dark green. As the thing got up, Raven dodged one sword slash after another, the smirk on her face remaining present as she leapt into the air and extended her index and middle fingers, bringing them down straight down the length of the rock body, smoke billowing out to follow the trace before the statue broke apart among the new cleavage, Cy and BB staring in pure amazement at Raven's latest 180. "Hoo-ah! High fives! Come on!" she called out holding up her hands.

"Ye-heah! Way to go mage girl!" Vent whooped giving the girl a high five.

"Hey, great kick flyboy!" the green-clad mage whooped as she slapped the brunette across the butt.

"Oh, a pro_vocative _one _aren't _ya?" he asked as he slapped her back, causing the girl to leap up and cup her rear before she started running after him for revenge, the two smirking as one leapt away with short bursts of wind, remaining tentatively out of Raven's reach and wiggling his rear at her in a goading manner.

"What is your _deal_?" Beast Boy suddenly cried out. "First you nuke breakfast, then you finally laugh at my jokes, then you're all weepy, and now you're a provocative _Marine_? Make up your mind. Who are you?" he asked earning a quizzical look from the green-clad mage before a matching pink-clad hopped in from the left and a glum gray-clad one slinked up from the right.

"I'm Raven," the three said simultaneously in their own tones, causing Beast Boy who was poleaxed by the sight to faint.

"Happy... timid... brave," Cy then counted off.

"You forgot _dopey_. Hehehe," Pink Raven giggled pointing to the shocked Beast Boy.

"Wow, even _I'm _surprised by all this," Vent remarked in a neutral tone.

"Different side of Raven's personality. We're not in Raven's home."

"We're in her _head_," Beast Boy remarked.

"And I want you out," the blue-clad Raven said floating down in front of the three _Emoticlones_, who faded away. "The mirror you found is for meditation. It's a portal into my MIND- NOT A TOY!" she growled through gritted teeth, big sweat drops rolling down BB's face.

"Heheh... My bad," he remarked weakly, the flock of ravens that had been roosting in the nearby tree for the past ten minutes suddenly taking off, squawking as they flapped their wings.

"You have to go. Now!" Raven then ordered.

"Raven, talk to me. What's going on?" Vent asked looking her right in the eyes.

"Last night, something... got loose. Something bad," Raven answered.

_And Dr. Light got on its _bad _side_, Vent noted, remembering how _mortified _he looked. The next moment there was an unholy roar from the heavens, a gargantuan black vortex forming over the horizon as the ravens from before flew into it. Gradually they retreated from the top down to expose a super-king-sized humanoid male with red skin, flowing white hair, and four glowing yellow eyes. It was clad in a black and grey loincloth, steel wristbands, and a similar belt to the one Raven wore, as well as an Anja chakra on its forehead. Its belt was silver and set with black stones, and a matching piece set at the throat to match her brooch. There were short, curved black stripes on its arms and chest.

"_**Hatred shall rule**_**,**_**" **_the giant being growled, its voice being the same one that Raven had used when snaring Dr. Light.

"Let's just say I have issues with my father," Raven stated evenly, the red giant moving steadily towards them and leaned down with a loud roar. As Cy, BB, and Vent ran off, Raven stood her ground against the monster as it unleashed a quadruple blast from its glowing eyes that hit the ground in front of her, forcing her to jump clear. The thing's giant feet began stomping towards the three males, who at the moment were making a beeline towards the Forbidden Door. When a beam lanced the ground in front of them, Raven then dropped to the ground in front of them and faced her father. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she called out as she created a shield around herself, the boys, and the door. The monster fired another blast cutting a furrow along the ground and throwing up a wall of dust around the barrier.

* * *

><p>"May we go see if Raven is better?" Starfire asked.<p>

"She wants to be alone," Raven stated plainly as he flipped another channel.

* * *

><p>"Get out of my mind! Now!" Raven shouted as she strained to hold up the barrier.<p>

"And leave you alone with _that_?" Vent asked even as the Forbidden Door lit up with a whirlpool. "No way in _hell _am I doing that!"

"It's _my _problem! I'll deal with it. If I lose, you'll be stuck in here forever!" Raven shouted. Outside the barrier, the monster pulled his hands back, producing a ball of energy between them, then swinging them forward and punching a hole through the mage's shield, bursting it with a second shot. "GO!" she shouted with no room for objection as she flung the three screaming towards the portal with a sudden lash of telekinesis. Flying up, she then fired a black salvo from her hand, only serving as an annoyance as he tried to swat her down, the mage flying around and avoiding another eye blast. Landing a blow on its chest, she flew around to his head in the briefest instant, only for him to whirl around and blast her point-blank in the chest and catching her in its broad palm.

"_**Rage shall consume you," **_the thing then stated.

"Yo!" Cyborg called out, catching the thing's attention. "Sounds like _somebody _needs a time-out!" he said firing a shot which was blocked by the thing's arm, which was blocked only for the second chest-shot to find its mark, causing it to stumble backward and let go of Raven. Toppling edge over edge, the blue-clad mage tumbled helplessly towards a high-speed hello with a thick granite slab, Beast Boy then dove down as a hawk and grabbed onto her shoulder, the mage starting to come to with a barely audible moan and leveling out as she fell to her knees.

"You stayed? I thought you didn't like me," Raven said rubbing her head.

"Thought you didn't like _me_," Beast Boy returned, his sentiment causing the mage to smile.

"Yeah yeah, warm fuzzies all around," Vent sighed as he landed next to them. "We still got to deal with _not_-so daddy dearest," he said pointing to the red-skinned monster as it stomped towards them.

"_**Feel my fury!"**_ he roared firing a four-pack of eye blasts, Vent and Cyborg dodging to the sides while Raven and Beast Boy took to the skies. Grabbing his shoulders, Pterasaur Beast Boy lifted Cyborg aloft as Vent and Raven fired off their own projectile weapons, the two of them weaving through the barren landscape and returning shots, their distractions proving enough for Cy to nail the monster in the face with a sonic blast. Enraged by the hit, he was about to deliver the finishing stroke, only to yeal in surprise as his head was pulled backwards, Raven and Ventus pulling his hair back and causing him to lose balance, the red-skinned monster crashing among the rocky peaks.

* * *

><p>"May we now-"<p>

"No!"

* * *

><p>"He's too strong. Even with your help, I cannot beat him," Raven sighed as the four hid behind a small ridge.<p>

"So call for backup! What about the other you's?" Cy asked.

"Yeah, the green one kinda kicked butt," BB added.

_And was also a bit of a flirt, but she doesn't need to know that, _Vent thought.

"It still won't be enough. None of my other sides have the kind of power we need," Raven stated.

"Maybe not alone, but what about together?" Vent asked putting a hand on her shoulder. "All of them are parts of a greater whole. A part of you. Use them!" he said reassuring her, Cy ducking back after peeking around the edge to see if the demonic figure had found them yet.

"Go for it! We got your back!" Cy said firing off his cannon. With a smile, Raven closed her eyes in concentration before disappearing.

"Alright you fucking_ troll_! Let's see how you like _this_!" Vent growled angrily as he began spinning his arms around, hollow whirlwinds forming around his wrists as he shot at the red-skinned abomination. "Nibai Sepukken!" he shouted as he flew through the air and started delivering brutal wind-packed punches to the red-skinned monster's face, causing it to stumble back before the brunette had to fly away. "Come on you fucking pansy! Fight like a maaan!" he demanded as he started darting around him and striking at his body too fast for it to keep up.

"Hey, doesn't he resemble a Powerpuff Girl flying around like that?" Beast Boy asked.

"You _watch _that?" Cy asked in shock, Beast Boy chuckling nervously as Vent swirled around Trigon's head, punching each eye out only for them to re-open moments later. "Forget it, there's no time," he groaned as he fired his sonic cannon at the thing. However, the beast didn't pay any credence to this, as it clasped its hands together before launching a swarm of bird-like apparitions, all of which converged upon Ventus and sent him tumbling to the ground, Cy catching him while BB scared off the birds with a lion's roar. Smirking at his victory, the demon had yet to notice Raven rising behind his back, her tightly wrapped cloak now pure white. As the thing swiveled around to face her, the mage opened her cloak and hurled a mass of dark energy at the demon, revealing that her leotard was white as well, her magic forming thick bands that encircled him from shoulders to waist.

"_**You are going back where you belong!"**_ White Raven then said in a very deep and terrible tone.

"_**Never!" **_the demon growled as he broke the minding spell. Rising into the air with arms crossed in front, the white-garbed mage's eyes and mouth began to blaze with the same dark power from her hands before she launched a black white-trimmed beam at the demon, who launched an orange red-trimmed beam. Recording with his camcorder, Vent could only watch in awe as the two forces collided, the balance point shifting back and forth as the birds around them disappeared. With one final push, Raven's beam surged into the demon's face, an incredible flash of light nearly blinding everything before a red-garbed copy of her, four eyes glowing from within the cowl of the thing's hood, now only a foot tall. Dropping to the ground and facing its giant white-colored counterpart, the red-garbed being suddenly disintegrated into a hail of red lightning bolts, striking the white-garbed mage and throwing her into an unbearable rictus. In a final flash and a blast of smoke, the blue-garbed Raven had now been reverted back to her original size, Ventus catching her before she could hit the ground.

"Great job. I knew you could do it," Vent said with a smile as he helped her to her feet, BB and Cy following her with thumbs up.

"Thank you... friends," Raven sighed as she rubbed her head.

"So... We really _are _friends?" Beast Boy asked.

"Hmm-hmm," she said with a smile.

"And you really think I'm funny?" he asked wiggling his eyebrows.

"Don't push it," she and Vent said, the prior chuckling a bit as they group headed towards the Forbidden Gate. "Hey Rae, if this is your mind, how are _you _here?" he then asked, the girl remaining silent at that question.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile outside Raven's room, Starfire was slightly straining to knock on Raven's door, Robin's fingers wrapped tightly around her arm and pulling her back with everything she had.<p>

"Please! Let us simply-"

"Raven asked us not to disturb her!" Robin cried out even as he failed to move the Tamaranian girl.

"She could be weeping and-"

"I don't want to bother her!" he persisted.

"But if we merely-" she started, then suddenly gasped and smiled as the door open, her stance relaxing and sending Robin to the floor as Cyborg, Beast Boy, Ventus, and Raven stepped out.

"Where have you guys _been _all day?" Robin asked getting up from the floor.

"Just getting to know each other," Raven said with a blush, her Emoticlone's memories having come back to her after the fusion technique.

"Come, friends. We shall prepare a new breakfast feast," Starfire cheered.

"It's a little late for breakfast, Star. Maybe just some herbal tea," Beast Boy suggested.

"Actually, breakfast sounds-" was as far as Raven got before Vent suddenly collapsed to the ground, holding his head and groaning as though he were in pain.

"Ooooooogh..." he groaned as his body shook.

"Ventus, what is wrong?" Star asked.

"Stomach aching... head throbbing... _desire to murder Beast Boy rising,"_ Vent groaned and muttering the last part to himself as he held back the urge to hurl. Oh, and murder Beast Boy too.

"What's wrong with _him_?" Robin asked pointing to the teen on the floor.

"Don't know. He's been pulling 180s all day," Beast Boy noted, warily stepping away from the potential changeling-murderer.

"Well it's nothing a trip to the infirmary can't solve," Cy said throwing the teen over his shoulder. "Come on, let's see what's wrong with him."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later after a few diagnostic tests, Raven giving Vent a glass of tea with a crushed aspirin pill in it, Cyborg had finally gotten the results back from Vent's tests.<p>

"So let me get this straight. Vent is _allergic _to _tofu_?" Beast Boy asked after the tests were run on the brunette.

"Yeah. After running a few tests, I determined that _that's _what was making him act up all day," Cy noted from the medical report, the brunette growling in his throat and crossing his arms as he stare out the window, practically burning a _hole _in it. "Apparently the coagulated soy milk in the stuff has been inducing a chemical reaction within his brain that's been causing the _mood swings _we've been on the lashing end of all day."

"Who would have thought?" Robin remarked. This had never been an issue until now.

"Yeah yeah big whoop. Least it ain't my freaking _kryptonite_," the boy growled lowly in his throat, resembling a caged tiger that had been poked with a _stick _too many times as he drank his aspirin-laced tea for the sudden headache.

"... So uh, how long 'til it wears off?" Beast Boy asked. To tell the truth, Angry Vent was scaring him a bit more than _Scary Raven_. And _that _was scary.

"No idea," Cy said before a wicked grin crossed his face. "_But_, if this is going to happen every time, then I guess that means no more tofu eggs and milk for breakfast," the teen said trying to use this to his advantage. "Well, time to make some sausage 'n waffles! And we're having _real _eggs!" he said before leaving the room.

"Dude! That's not fair!" Beast Boy cried as he ran off after him, Robin and Starfire following while Raven stayed by Vent's side, rubbing his back as he got up from his bed.

"You alright, Vent?" Raven asked as he threw his legs over the side of the chair.

"Yeah. I'm fine," he groaned holding his forehead. "Man that tofu stuff _bites_."

"Hey, at least _now _I don't have to worry about it on the breakfast table," she giggled, her robe flashing pink for a second as she helped the teen out of the room and back to the kitchen for some _real _food.

"Yeah. Hey, you wanna watch Beast Boy get raped by a Floormaster?" he asked with a chuckle as he brought out his camcorder, a few choice images for the DR to simulate later.

"Hmhm. Sure. Maybe later we can post it on the internet," Raven said folding out the small screen and pressing play, the two laughing as Beast Boy continued to scream as he was shook back and forth.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Legend of Zelda (Floormasters). Do not own Yuyu Hakusho (Jin's Double Whirlwind Fist).**

**Author's Notes:  
>Thought I'd put a little spin on this part of the story, as well as introduce Ventus' <strong>_**pseudo-kryptonite **_**as it were.**


	10. Freaky Friday

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos... Azarath Metrion Zinthos..." Raven chanted, a distant voice suddenly calling out her name. Visibly annoyed, the girl left her mind and returned to the real world revealing the ops center as the voice from before called out her name again.

"Please forgive my interruption, but have you seen Robin?" Starfire asked.

"No."

"Oh," she turned to leave but stopped. "Perhaps you have seen Cyborg?"

"No," she answered, the Tamaranian turning again but then stopped, again.

"Beast Boy?"

"My eyes are _closed, _Starfire. I haven't seen anyone," she answered plainly so she wouldn't ask _again_.

"They must be doing the hanging out someplace," she said turning to leave, _again_, but then stopped, _again_. "Perhaps _we _should do the hanging out. We only did so once prior, but it was only a short while before your date with Ventus," Star noted, a light blush coating the mage's cheeks at the memory. "Maybe we should go again, in case Ventus asks you out on another date."

_Another date _does _sound nice, _Raven thought to herself before shaking it off. "Starfire, can you just leave me alone right now?"

"Oh, my apologies," Star said heading off, Raven returning to her chanting as she medita-

"MAIL CALL!" Cy suddenly cried out, Raven letting out a long shocked yell as she flailed about trying to restablish herself, winding up in a heap before the four boys as they entered the room, a large crate in Cyborg's hands.

"Robin! Cyborg! Beast Boy! Ventus! You are back! It was... quiet while you were gone," Starfire stated.

"Not _that _quiet," Raven returned.

"Check it out. This was sitting by the front door," Beast Boy said as Cy set the crate down on the table. "Fanmail- Probably a gift from one of my many _admirers,_" the changeling said wriggling his eyebrows, the mage simply rolling her eyes.

"Actually, it doesn't say _who _it's from," Robin said reading the side, which read **To: Teen Titans – Titans Tower**.

"Well, only one way to find out," Cy said as he tore the lid off the crate before looking inside. "Woah!"

"Cool!" Robin awed while Star giggled.

"Honesty, I was hoping for chocolate," Beast Boy voiced his thoughts as Cy reached into the crate and pulled out its contents.

"Aww, isn't that cute? Puppet Cy has a light-up eye," Cyborg said as he pulled out a white, grey, and blue foot-tall puppet version of himself, pressing the panel on the chest and causing its left eye to light up.

"Yeah. They got all the details just right," Robin said with a smile pulling a grappling hook from his puppet's belt buckle.

"Speak for yourself. I'm _way _better looking than this," Beast Boy said holding up his puppet. "And taller."

"Someone _certainly _has a lot of time on their hands," Raven said pulling her puppet's hood back, revealing that her hairline had _also _been recreated, Starfire giggling as she looked her own yarn-haired puppet over.

"I have never _seen _such a whimsical device," Starfire cooed as she looked her tiny wooden replica over. At the same time Vent was looking over _his _puppet, similar in build to Robin's but between Puppet Rob and Puppet Cy's height, wearing a tiny replica version of what he'd been wearing when he first arrived at Jump City; complete with adjustable goggles, _tiny_ hand-knit scarf, and open toed puppet sandals.

"Am I the only one who finds this the _least _bit suspicious?" Vent asked Raven as she examined her marionette. By now he was well familiar with how things were shipped _to _Titans Tower since they didn't have an official dock of sorts, as to disuade people from actively venturing to their island. Whenever anything was to be delivered to the Tower, it was first dropped off at the mayor's office where a cleared government official with knowledge of the undersea tunnel would deliver it, and would leave a message at the tower a half-hour prior upon arriving at the garage. However since the crate in question was on their doorstep, someone must've _hand-_delivered it, otherwise it would've been in the garage for pickup.

"No. You're second behind me," Raven said looking hers over. "Still, I don't sense any magic on this thing, so maybe it _is _just fanmail."

"Hmmm... Think you could put a charm on it or something?" Vent asked out of nowhere. "It doesn't have to be too fancy if you do, but something that'll weaken any magic that _may _involve this... thing," he said holding the puppet out to her. Looking up to see the look on his face, the unease in his eyes that seemed _unnatural _to such a free spirit, and the blue-garbed mage could only think back to the times he tried to reach out to her, as well as when he frollicked with her Joy, comforted her Sadness, and... flirted with her Courage.

"Oh alright," Raven said pulling the marionette's sleeveless hoodie up with her left thumb, a small chant leaving her lips as the end of her right index finger lit up with black flame, carving a small runic charm into the thing's chest in the form of a stylized **R**, the smell of burning wood rising into the air before she finished. "There. That should do it," she said handing the puppet back to him, a _tiny _bit embarrassed that she had indirectly grouped his chest.

"Maybe now I can rest easy with this thing in the house," Vent said looking his puppet over. "Thanks Rae, this means a lot," he said placing a hand on her shoulder before smirking towards the others. "Don't think you can have all the fun without me. DYNAMIC ENTRY!" he whooped as he had Puppet Vent nail Puppet BB's face with a flying kung fu kick, sending him spinning into Puppet Rob and almost tangling up the strings before in a show of control, he began using his aerokinesis to move Puppet Vent more fluidly around Puppet Cy's attacks.

"Shall my tiny replica do battle with _your _tiny replica?" Starfire asked coming up to the mage.

"Knock yourself out," Raven said tossing her puppet lazily to star, a puzzled look on her face as the mage left.

* * *

><p>Several hours later, the group getting to play with their tiny wooden replicas of themselves without interruption since it was a slow day, it was now night time in the tower, the same crate from before left where it was. Suddenly, a tiny hand broke out of a hidden compartment in the bottom of the crate, a few shafts of straw flying through the air before the shadowed figure, almost child-like in appearance, made its way through the tower. While the Titans slept, the thing visited Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Ventus' rooms, each time causing their bodies to glow and their puppet replicas to jump up before heading for its next destination. Currently the thing was now in Starfire's room, the girl and her puppet sleeping on their own beds with their feet on the pillows and their heads handing off the foot, the door whooshing open causing the girl to jump up.<p>

"Who is there?" she asked gasping in fright as the figure disappeared from the room. Opening the door, she stepped out into the hall _just _missing the shadowed figure darting around the corner. "Hello? Hello?" she called out as she wandered the halls. "Is someone there? If this is a joke, it is not-" she said being cut off as the door to her side opened. Whirling around, she and Raven looked at one another before the two screamed in sheer terror, the two's hair standing up briefly with Raven's resembling the bird she was named after. "Raven! You have _also _heard the strange noises?"

"The strange noises of you talking outside my _door_?" Raven asked. "Hard to miss."

"Oh. Forgive me," Star said blushing in embarrassment. "I thought there was someone else-" she said before Cy's sonic cannon suddenly went off between them. Whirling around, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Ventus could be seen charging down the hall, Robin leaping for a kick as Beast Boy transformed into a velociraptor and charged ahead. The former nearly took Starfire's head off with the sole of his boot, while the latter tried to get at Raven, the mage creating energy barriers to slow him down.

"Beast Boy, it's me! Don't make me hurt you!" Raven growled. _Even though it actually sounds kind of _fun, she added to herself before he broke through her shield and snapped at her. Flying over Robin's head, Starfire shot down two of the three discs that Robin shot at her, the third exploding and sending her downward into Cyborg's arms. The next moment, Beast Boy swung his tail at Raven and knocking her down the hall, Ventus wrapping his arms around her tightly as he stood beside Cy, who had Starfire pinned beneath his arms.

"Vent! Let me go!" Raven shouted as she struggled against his grip, Robin and Beast Boy approaching with the latter returning to human form. It was then that she noticed the group's eyes were glowing light blue, and that they all had blank looks on their faces. For Beast Boy, it was an even blanker look than usual.

"Friends! Why do you attack us?" Star asked trying to struggle against Cy's grip.

"Oh, they're not _your _friends anymore," the figure from before said stepping up. He appeared to be nothing more than a puppet with a large head and, a hinged mouth, and slick black hair parted in the middle. His attire consisted of black boots, grey pants, a red jacket with gold epaulettes and a sash with badges across his chest. "They are _my _puppets. _These _are your friends," he said pulling Rob, BB, Cy, and Vent's puppets from behind his back as he clutched at their strings.

"Starfire!" Puppet Rob spoke in a muffled and very strained-sounding voice.

"Raven!" Puppet Cy cried in a likewise tone.

"Help!" Puppet BB cried out.

"Damn it... can't... move..." Puppet Vent grunted as he tried to get his puppet to move.

"Release Ven- I mean them this instant!" Raven ordered while Star gasped.

"Sorry, but you're not in charge here," the puppet said putting the puppets behind his back. "You don't command me. _I _command you," he said holding up a silver crosspiece with his left hand, the six slots lit in red, green, white, and orange, with the remaining two slots lighting up in yellow and blue and Starfire and Raven groaning when their bodies were wreathed in the matching colors to the last two slots. "And with the Puppet King pulling the strings, the Teen Titans will command the entire city," the now-known Puppet King said as Raven and Starfire' souls were wrenched from their bodies, the mage muttering out her signature incantation before passing out, a black spinning flare being released from her forehead and knocking everyone down, the Puppet King's control skidding across the floor. "My control!" he cried out as the blue and yellow souls in Puppet Rae and Puppet Star's bodies suddenly flew back into the nearest reciprocals, the two pulling themselves up before sprinting down the hall. "After them!" the Puppet King ordered as the two escaped, the boys half-standing half-floating to their feet in response to his command.

Elsewhere, a rate in the basement was pulled up, Raven and Starfire dropping down into it and shutting it silently as their pursuers ran overhead passed them.

"The boys!" Starfire gasped softly. "Raven! What are we going to-" she asked as Starfire's hand reached up and switched on the overhanging light bulb, the two getting a good look at eachother, their faces showing the expression that normally the _other _would.

"Starfire?" Raven asked from the Tamaranian's body.

"Raven?" Starfire asked from the mage's body. "_*Gasp* _You are me! _*GASP* _And I am you!" she cried as black energy crackled from her forehead, shattering the lightbulb and putting them in near-total darkness again.

* * *

><p>To say that things weren't going well for Starfire and Raven, I mean Raven and Starfire, I mean- Oh you get it Raven in <em>Star's <em>body and Starfire in _Rae's _body, would be an understatement. After escaping the tower through a hidden tunnel system that Raven had come across while looking for a quiet spot the others didn't know about, the two made their way down the darkened and empty city street at the edge of the city in the slums. As they came to term with what happened, Star's constant use of emotion caused several parking meters, newspaper dispensers, a mailbox, and a car to either rend, melt, burst, or blow up. After being chased around by the boys and narrowly escaping capture, they were able to overhear the Puppet King's plot; to destroy Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Ventus' souls, leaving their bodies under _his _command. Obviously neither liked that, with Starfire wanting to mount a rescue mission for the four, only for Raven to point out that they'd end up getting captured too with either Star's powers being useless or the runoff from Rae's emotions blowing them to Kingdom Come. After a brief argument, the two were finally able to reconcile, exchanging partially-abridged versions of their life's stories, as well as how to use their borrowed body's respective powers.

It was after they were able to get a grasp of one another's powers that they followed the boy's body's paths, leading them to a decrepit old theatre in a run-down area of Jump City; the Bijou. The courtyard to the place had an inactive fountain, from which the two hid behind as they kept an eye on the front entrance. Beast Boy was pacing around the front steps as a Doberman pinsher, whereas Ventus' body was flying in a circle around the three-story building _two_ stories above the ground. To Raven, the brunette's flying was rather choppy and he looked like he could drop out of the sky at any minute like a fly nearing its 24th hour, making the mage wonder if _his _powers were dictated by emotion as well, and whether or not Zombie Vent could use his full range of ability. Thankfully his Navy Zippo was still in the Tower under lock and key, otherwise they might've been thoroughly screwed if he was able to exert a greater degree of control since putting the lighter down.

Waiting for Ventus' body to round the corner, Raven hauled Starfire through the air, clearing the ground and slowly but surely ascending to the roof without being seen by either below, the zombified changeling's ears only perking up and turning in their direction after they had left his line of sight, whereas the zombified aerokinetic was in no real position to _see _them at all. Then, after finding her center and closing Rae's eyes, Starfire chanted Raven's mantra and causing the lock to snap. With a compliment from the _Tamaranian mage_, the _magical alien _whooped at her success, only for her powers to flare up from the outburst and snap open the trap doors, sending echoes through the theatre.

"Nice work," Raven groaned sarcastically as she grabbed her... shoulder, and dragged Star into the theatre, looking over her shoulder once more for Vent's body and hoping he wasn't able to reach them as he was. If the brunette's body _was _driven by his human emotion, then maybe they would actually stand a chance with the bad hand dealt to them. Walking down onto the catwalk, the two were able to spot the Puppet King giving Zombie Robin and Zombie Cyborg a "Search and destroy" order, most likely because the echo of the trapdoor had made the two's presence known.

"Well Titans..." the Puppet King said turning his attention back to the four puppets, though was slightly disappointed in Ventus' body over the others. "Time for your grand finale," he said uncorking the test tube in his other hand into the bowl, which had a white and blue magically-affiliated fire within, said fire blazing up as smarks floated from it. "It's going to be a real showstopper," he said holding the four puppets over the flame.

"No," Raven gasped, horrified at what was about to transpire.

"Stop!" Puppet Rob shouted.

"Don't!" Puppet Cy cried.

"Please!" Puppet BB yelped.

"Listen up you Muppet reject! You better hope I _don't _get my body back, because if I _do_, I'll turn your scrawny ass into _woodchips_!" Puppet Vent threatened angrily. Having his body snatched did that to a guy. Either that or the residual tofu.

"An idle threat from one who cannot even _move_, and nothing more" the Puppet Master countered. "Oh but don't worry. I'll take _good _care of your bodies. After all, they'll be _mine _forever," he said dropping the puppets into their flaming oblivion. Before they could land in the bowl however, a black sphere surrounded them before pulling them up to the catwalk, the four figures being swept into a crushing hug into the chest of the _magical alien_.

"My friends! You are unharmed!" she laughed.

"Starfire? Why are you in Raven's body?" Puppet Vent asked in shock.

"It's a long story," the _Tamaranian mage _answered, not understanding the burning sensation she got at seeing Starfire hugging Vent... rather, his puppet, even though it was _her _body doing the hugging, just not _her _behind it... You know what I mean.

"Go my puppets! Capture them!" the Puppet King ordered in anger, the four victims stepping towards them, Zombie Beast Boy returning to human form while Zombie Ventus hovered choppily across from hem, surrounding them from four sides. Given, that could likely change at any moment with how sloppy Zombie Ventus' hovering was.

"Move!" Raven shouted yanking her body as it held onto the others along, only to scream as Beast Boy brought them up short. Zombie Robin leapt onto the scaffolding and crouched behind them, while Zombie Cyborg leapt onto the railing and fired his sonic cannon, the blast sending the girl in opposite directions while the puppets were sent tumbling in a heap.

"Dude, get your butt outta my face!" Puppet BB cried.

"Can't... move... Deal with it," Puppet Rob returned.

"Think like a ninja puppet, think like a ninja puppet, think like a ninja puppet," Vent repeated to himself attempting to make his soul's wooden medium move, the wood clacking against itself slightly like a wooden wind chime, only for no _real _semblance of movement to be gained. "Damn."

Elsewhere, the girls had done a little short-range skydiving of their own, Starfire grabbing a curtain cord to stop herself while Raven tried her best at flying the hopefully-temporary Tamaranian body. Going their separate ways, Raven ended up facing Cyborg and Ventus from the railing, while Starfire had to contend with Robin and Beast Boy in gorilla form.

"Robin, I do not wish to fight you," Starfire said avoiding a punch, only for him to grab her coat and throw her towards the railing. "But I will if I _must_!" she said exerting some of Rae's power onto the sandbag and dropped it over the side, the rope around Robin's foot looping around his ankle and dragging him upwards.

"Okay Raven. Starbolts. Just let go of your emotions, feel the righteous fury and..." Raven attempted, quickly ducking down as Cy blew out a few dozen bricks. Running around his form, Vent suddenly ran towards her with a normal punch, Raven whirling around it and driving Starfire's purple-booted foot into his face, sending him rolling across the boardwalk and coming to a stop flat on his back. "Sorry Ventus," she apologized before dodging another rush from Cyborg, the _Tamaranian mage _throwing him over her shoulder sending his massive girth against the railing. Attempting to get up, the rusted-out railing suddenly gave out before he began falling towards the four puppets below. "Starfire!"

"_*GASP* _Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Starfire called out as she exerted her power over Cy's body and diverted his course away from the four, accidentally using his body as a battering ram against Robin. At the same time however, the Puppet King was able to grab the four and made his way towards the fire.

"C'mon guys! Show some fighting spirit!" Vent said as their wooden bodies were carried towards the magical fire, somehow had raised a clenched fist and narrowed its eyes. "_Fight _the shackles of oppression! _Strip _your inhibitions away and run _free_!"

"Can't... even move..." the others groaned out.

"Well fine! If _you _guys aren't going to try and break out, I'll do it on my own and take some pressure off of the girls," Vent's puppet said as it suddenly began vibrating, the wood clattering as Puppetmaster's eyes widened as he suddenly stopped. "Nnhh... Nnnnghhhhh..." he growled as the puppet continued to vibrate, the charm that Raven placed on the puppet earlier seemingly triggering as he tried to break free. "Nnghhhhhoooh!" he growled as a white shell of magic began to appear around the brown-haired puppet, cracks slowly spreading across it. "NNNNGHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!" he growled as Vent's puppet began bouncing around on its strongs. "KIAI BOKOU!" he shouted as the magic around the puppet shattering like glass and the soul within escaped.

"What? Impossible! How did you overcome my spell?" the Puppet King demanded angrily as the orange button on his controller went out, the orange soul flying through the air... and attaching itself to Cyborg in an orange flash.

"With unending willpower and _manliness_!" Vent said with Cy's mouth suddenly getting up and throwing Zombie Robin into the air off his shoulder, flexing his muscles and doing various poses like Alexander Louise Armstrong, sans the rose-filled backdrop. "Boo-yah! Check out these _gun_s!" he said flexing his arms before transforming them into sonic cannons, firing both of them at reduced power and sending Beast Boy flying.

"Hey! Watch the merchandise!" Beast Boy cried as his gorilla body slammed into a wall.

"But you don't even _possess_ any magical power! You should _never _have been able to break out of that spell!" Puppetmaster cried out, finding that even with Robin, Beast Boy, and Ventus' bodies under his control, that with Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg's bodies against him his plans might come with more difficulty than he thought.

"Foolish puppet! With enough guts one can break the heavens, earth, and even _tomorrow_!" Vent said assuming a dynamic pose, pointing to the heavens as an exploding volcano backdrop went off behind him. "For I am the epitome of masculinity!" he continued flexing his arms beneath his chest, causing the volcano backdrop to erupt even further, the roiling hot magma bursting through the top and causing all who saw it to drop their jaws in awe. "Jack Rakan!" he then said totally killing the moment. "Alright forget the manga references and let's just kick some ASS!" he said pointing Cy's right foot at Robin's body, launching a rocket that sent the spiky-haired teen flying. "Shoe-mounted rocket launcher attack: Success!" he whooped.

"Hey, don't go messin' around with my weapon settings!" Puppet Cy cried out.

"Oh you're such a spoilsport," Vent returned before his body came flying towards him like a slow rocket. In response however, Vent aimed Cyborg's dual sonic cannons at the rafter and launched himself into the air off the ends of their blasts, Cy's puppet jaw almost dropping off entirely as his massive body flew through the air before he dove down and wrapped his arms around his original frame's chest and arms. As they careened towards the ground, Cy's body began to spin via arm-mounted thrusters to the side before he shouted- "Omote Renge!" –the two spinning as their bodies broke through the stage floor in a shower of dust and wood. When the dust clearing, it revealed Cy's body holding Zombie Vent by the ankle, which was currently unconscious and hanging limp. "Heheh. Did I give him to much?" he asked rubbing the back of Cy's head in embarrassment, the brunette's body scuffed up a bit but otherwise unharmed.

"No! The Puppet King is still in command!" the Puppet King cried as he ran towards the torch. "I will _not _be denied!" he cried out as he got ready to dunk the three puppets into the flames.

"Joo wanna play rough? Okay! Shay ello to my lil frien!" Vent growled in Scarface's accent before firing off Cy's sonic cannon right in front of the puppet, knocking him backwards and scattering the puppets into the air while his crosspiece flew through the air and bounced off a sandbag before landing in the magical blue flames, causing it to flare up brilliantly at the sudden added fuel. "Uh! My control!" he cried as the blaze shaped itself into the likeness of his face, the puppet twitching and jittering in his prone position. "NOOOOOOO!" he cried as light poured out of his eyes and mouth, the souls of Robin, Best Boy, and Cyborg flying out towards their own bodies. At the same time, Starfire, Raven, and Cyborg's eyes and mouths flared blue, yellow, and orange as their souls burst out too, the swapping pair's life forces intertwining briefly before returning to their proper homes.

"I am me!" Starfire cheered towards Raven as the looked herself over. "And you are you!"

"And _we're _us!" Cy cheered as he accidentally let go of Vent's body. "Oops," he said as the brunette landed in a heap, a few pieces of wood sticking out of his clothing.

"Raven, we have done it!" Starfire cheered pulling Raven into a hug.

"You're hugging me..." Raven said, the enthusiastic hug nowhere close to her liking.

"NOOOOOOO!" the Puppet King cried in agony as he tried to crawl toward the magical flame, light still pouring out of his eyes and mouth. "The magic! Without it, I'm just a..." he cried out before the luminosity faded away, the _puppet _collapsing slack-jawed and googly-eyed.

"Puppet," Vent groaned as he righted himself, walking towards the _former _puppet king as he picked bits and pieces of wood out of his clothing, thankful he didn't have any king-sized splinters. _Guess the _shock _was what knocked my body out, and considering the difference in height, Cy's body probably hit the ground first_, he thought as he grabbed the puppet's leg and began dragging the limp body along.

"Hey uh, Vent, you okay man?" Beast Boy asked.

"Fine," Vent flinched. "Now... Since all of this is over, I'm going to _*flinch* _see about finding a sure-fire way to destroy this thing_ *flinch* _before it can be resurrected or anything," he said heading out the door, not even five _minutes _after the battle and already he was carrying out on his promise to turn the little bastard into wood chips. Also, he seemed to be zig-zagging across the room, both out of aching body and banging the puppet's head on whatever he could find as he made his way towards the door.

"Do you not think we should stop him?" Starfire asked as everyone headed for the exit.

"_Why_? The thing tried to turn our bodies into his zombie minions,"Raven stated evenly as she followed the brunette out. "As far as_ I_ can tell, he's in the right," she said before turning his attention to him. "Vent, sorry about kicking you earlier. Even though it was _Star's _body, it was still me behind it," she apologized.

"You only did what you had to," he said rubbing his sore cheek, hoping the boot print would only be _temporary_. "Besides, I'm just glad everyone's back in their own bodies..."

"Is something wrong?" Raven asked, noticing his voice had trailed off.

"Well... This may sound stupid, but even though it was _your _body hugging me at the time, it still felt like one of Star's hugs," he admitted as he scratched his cheek, only to flinch slightly since it was the one he got power-kicked in. "I know, stupid right?"

"No... Not really," Raven flushed holding up Vent's puppet, brushing some of its hair back while Beast Boy ran back to grab the other puppets for _whatever _he was going to use them for. "I suppose I should be _thankful _for your paranoia earlier, but... This wasn't a _real _magical seal I carved into your puppet. Just something to ease your worried mind," she admitted, earning a confused look from the brunette.

"So then... I broke free by my own power?" he asked, earning a nervous nod in return even though she had _told _him she put an anti-magic charm on his puppet. "Heheh! _Sweet_! Guess manliness really _can _conquer all obstacles," he chuckled with a wide grin and lacing his fingers behind his head, only to flinch and hold his sides. "Man. I _really _should've thought that last move through. Now I know how Gaara's _suna bunshin _felt," he groaned as he picked the last of the splinters out of his clothing, Raven simply shaking her head at the brunette's antics while she began to remove the soreness from his body.

* * *

><p>The next morning at the Tower after everyone got a few hours of sleep in, everyone fell back into their own routine from the previous day. It of course went without saying that when <em>anything <em>was delivered to the tower from then-on, that whatever it was would be _screened_, both through the science and if applicable the arcane, before they opened anything as to not have a _repeat _of what had transpired the previous evening. At the moment, Raven was now meditating, floating in front of the windows with eyes closed.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos... Azarath Metrion Zinthos..."

"Raven, forgive my interruption, but..."

"I haven't seen Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, _or _Ventus," she answered simply.

"Truthfully," she said as she hesitantly rubbed her arm. "I am wishing to join you in meditation."

"Really?" Raven asked turning around. "Well, all right," she said as Starfire joined her cross-legged, bobbing up and down at the same height above the ground as she was. "Find your center, focus your energies, and..." she said as the two faced the windows. "Azarath Metiron Zinthos... Azarath Metrion... Starfire?" Raven suddenly found herself asking with an opened eye.

"Yes?" Starfire returned with one eye open.

"After this... would you like to go to the mall?" she asked.

"Mmm-hmm," Starfire returned, the two returning to their chanting.

* * *

><p>After a half-hour or so of meditating, Raven eventually decided to cut things off for the day and head to the mall. The two flew, as was at their convenience, above the city towards the multi-purpose shopping center. Halfway there however, they spotted a certain brunette combing the cities from the skies, almost as though he were looking for something, a bag slung across his shoulder as he scanned the ground. Then, after seemingly finding what he was looking for, he allowed himself to fall out of the sky, Raven and Starfire flying around the building obstructing their view to see the brunette flying towards a construction site, large equipment blaring loudly as at the moment, the brunette was walking towards one of the workers on break.<p>

"Raven, what do you think Ventus is doing?" Starfire asked.

"Well he _did _say something about finding a sure-fire way to destroy that thing," Raven returned, assuming by the size of it that the Puppet King's body was in that sack. "I guess he's been looking for the biggest, most destructive toys he could find, and now he's found them," she returned, the two of them descending toward the construction site. It wasn't like either of them were actually going to _try _and stop him, but if anything they might as well watch.

Meanwhile down at the construction site, satchel over his shoulder and pulling his aviator goggles up, Ventus walked towards a pile of steel girders, a trio of construction workers on break all carrying mailbox-like metal lunchboxes. As they exchanged sandwiches amongst themselves, one of them noticed the brunette heading towards them and got up from his seat.

"Hey kid, I'm not sure how you got here, but this is a closed site," the man getting off his seat. Obviously no one had seen the brunette drop down, but then again construction work wasn't something to be done at half-attention.

"Teen Titans business," he said pulling out the T-Comm. and presenting it like it were a badge. "I need to speak to your supervisor."

"How 'bout a bit more proof than just _that, _huh?" the man asked. "For all we know that could be a new walkie talkie or something." In response, the brunette in front of him pocketed the yellow black-trimmed communication device, leveling his right arm towards him and holding his index finger back by his thumb.

"Aeroblast," he said plainly with eyes glowing silver and a thin shell of off-silver energy around the end of his index finger, which he released sending a compacted ball of air smaller than a paintball towards the man's hard hat, sending it flying off his head and into the air, tumbling for a few seconds before landing askew on the man's head. "Need any more proof?" he asked clenching a fist, off-silver energy rolling off of it more visibly now.

"Uh..." he said as the others gawked, having mistaken the Teen Titan Ventus for just any other teenager with brown hair and a sleeveless hoodie. "You're lookin' for Mac. He's the short one across the way over there," he said pointing to a stocky man in a hard hat barking orders at the other workers, who at the moment were working on the foundation for a new office building's foundation.

"Thank you," Vent said walking away, leaving the three to shake their heads at the sight while the man straightened his hard hat. A moment later a grey-skinned girl in a black cloak dropped down in front of them, accompanied by an orange-skinned red-head with orange eyes and purple clothing.

"Do _we _need to show some proof _also_?" Raven asked raising an eyebrow at the three.

"N-No. Go ahead," the two eating lunch said waving them towards where the brunette was heading.

"Thank you," Raven returned heading off after the brunette with Starfire following, leaving the three to shudder at what _might _happen if they had asked the two to _prove _they were Titans.

"Excuse me," Vent said getting _Mac's _attention, the man looking around at him from barking orders. Looking him over a few seconds, the man quickly whirled around to face the workers.

"Take five!" he ordered, the man finishing up what they were doing before the man turned around to face him. "I take it you've got _business _here, Teen Titan," the man stated, causing Vent to raise an eyebrow at actually being recognized. "I saw you _fly_ in a minute ago out the corner of my eye, and the only _other _people in this city who can fly by their own power are _girls_. Plus I'm not half-blind like those _cludge-heads_ over there," he said jabbing a finger at the three, the brunette having yet to notice Raven and Starfire heading towards him.

"Thank you for taking the time to hear... Wait, did you just say _cludge-head_?" he asked.

"Yeah I did. What's it to ya?" the man asked, Ventus taking note that the guy resembled a taller, wider, and more muscular version of Gizmo.

_Guess the little snot had to come from _somewhere_, _the brunette thought to himself, seeing as how he was probably looking at the little _snot-monkey's _dad. "It isn't important. Anyway, I need to dispose of what's in this bag after _damaging _it considerably, and I was wondering if I could borrow that pile driver over there," he said holding the bag with the Puppet King's body inside, then motioning to the device to the side, meant to pound large stakes into the ground. "Let me warn you, what's in this bag is a _liiittle _frightening."

"Kid, I grew up in Gotham 'til I moved here, so anything in there you have to show me won't scare me in the lea- KILL IT WITH FIRE!" the man suddenly shouted as Vent pulled the Puppet King's body out of the bag by its ankle, its goggly-eyes rolling around in its wooden skull. "Um. _Ahem_. I assume there's a _reason _you want to get rid of this... puppet," he asked as he composed himself, the thing reminding him of The Ventriloquist's puppet, Scarface.

Ironic that Vent use a famous line from a movie gangster by the same name before the little puppet's "life" was ended.

"Long story short, I don't want to have to deal with this thing if it resurrects itself or someone _else _resurrects it, so I'm going to destroy its body so that it _can't _be revived, or if it _is_, then I only have to get one good hit in to _kill _the damn thing," he stated as he rolled his shoulders, the puppet limply bouncing around. "You wouldn't _want _this thing running around Jump again, would you?" he asked bringing the puppet closer to the man's face.

"Long as I don't have to _look _at the thing again, you can smash it up as much as ya want. Just get that thing outta my face," Mac said as he adjusted his hat. "Yo Charlie! Start up the pile driver! Got a Titan here on business!" he said shouting to one of the guys as he was about to bite into his sandwich.

"Vent, I see you were _serious _about destroying the thing," Raven said from behind him.

"Raven? Starfire? What're _you _guys doing here?" Vent asked turning around to face the two, a few of the workers watching the three Titans interact.

"We were on our way to the Mall of Shopping when we spotted you," Starfire answered.

"Oh, well, don't let me keep you up," Vent said waving his hand. "I just need to make sure this little _nightmare _doesn't bug us again, and then I'll probably head home."

"Actually, I had once heard that it is Earth custom for girls to enslave one of their male companions to do their bidding as they shop. Tell me, do you wish to become our indentured servant?" Starfire stated, earning a confused/worried look from Ventus and a raised eyebrow from Mac.

"I think what she _meant _to ask was if you wanted to hang out with us," Raven stated, trying to clear up the potential misunderstanding between them.

"Oh, well, sure. Just have to get rid of this little _terror _and the rest of my day will be free. At least until something happens," Vent said bringing the Puppet King's body over to the pile driver.

"Alright kid! Pile driver's set up! Just put what you want smashed on the plate and say _when_!" Charlie said from the controls of the pile driver. With a nod, Raven used her powers to place the puppet evenly on the plate, Mac handing the three some safety goggles before the hammer came down and smashed the puppet, only its head remaining partially intact. After rising up again, the hammer came down a second time, the body flattened while the head had been smashed further. Third time's the charm, and the thing was completely smashed in a hail of splinters, leaving a mess of crushed wood on the plate.

"That's good!" Vent said as the hammer came out, Charlie nodding as he shut the machine down, Vent brushing the remains of the puppet into the satchel with his wind powers so he wouldn't have to touch it, then taking a length of cord he found on the ground and bound it shut. "Now that it's been thoroughly smashed, all I have to do is find a place where no one will be able to get to it. Either that or a place where it would take some _time _to get to it. I know!" he said snapping his fingers before turning to Mac. "Yo Mac. Mind if I put this on a bed of gravel before the concrete is set?"

"Don't see why not, but you'll have to press all the air outta that thing first," Mac said, the brunette nodding as he pulled as much of the air as he could out of the satchel, leaving only a few flat bulges from the wood sticking out. "Oh... Well... Okay then," he said scratching his head. "I'll just take that and... there," he said after tossing it onto a bed of gravel before the last of the concrete was poured over it. "All done. Anything else?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks for helping me get rid of that thing," Vent returned.

"As long as I don't have to look at that fart-sniffer's face again, we're even," Mac returned. "Hey you lazy _bums_! Get back to work! Five minutes is _over_!" he then barked, the men snapping out of what they were doing before going back to work, leaving Vent on his own with Raven and Starfire.

"So then he's really gone then? The Puppet King I mean?" Raven asked looking at the slough of concrete that had been placed over the satchel filled with crushed wood. Because of him she almost lost everything she had gained, so her loathing the little demon puppet was understandable.

"Yeah. It was a little gruesome, but it had to be done," Vent said shrugging his shoulders.

"Most joyous! Let us now go to the Mall of Shopping!" Starfire cheered as she grabbed Raven and Ventus' wrists before taking to the air.

"Hey Rae. What happened to the _other's_ puppets anyway?" Vent asked flying a bit on his own so his arm wouldn't be pulled from his socket.

"Well, I picked up _yours _for... the sentimental value," Raven stated as she grabbed Star's wrist so _her _arm wouldn't be pulled from its socket. "As for the other five, I think Beast Boy ran off with them."

"What do you thing he wants with them?" Vent asked, finding it kind of sweet that Raven would keep his puppet for the sentimental value of it.

"Probably doing the one thing he can't in real life," the mage stated.

"Making you laugh at his jokes?"

"Bingo."

"HA! I knew it!" Vent stated loudly. "Um, Star, think you could let go of Rae's hand? I think you're hurting her wrist."

"Oh, my apologies," she said letting the mage go as the three stopped, Raven rubbing her sore wrist.

"Here Rae. Let me help you out," Vent said extending his loeft hand to her, which she took, the brunette holding her to his side with his right hand as the three took off once again, the mage thankful to have such good friends, and wishing that it would last forever.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Negima (Willpower Defense). Do not own Naruto (Front Lotus). Ventus' use of Lugia's (signature) Aeroblast off his finger was a concept seen in the FanFiction **_**To Be A Master**_** by **Tactition101**.**

**Author's Note:  
>When I saw that Puppetmaster's controller had <strong>_**6 **_**slots on it (five of which were lit), I just **_**then**_** realized how perfectly Vent fit into it, since before that empty slot remained unused. There was a slot for Robin (Red), Beast Boy (Green), Cyborg (White), Starfire (Yellow), and Raven (Blue), but the sixth slot across from Starfire and Raven's wasn't lit up, so I'm to assume Puppet Master's magic is bound to the controller itself and not one of the controller's slots. In the one scene where there were **_**two **_**green slots lit up on the controller, that was an "animation goof". **


	11. Red X Rising

It had been a few days since the Titans went up against the Puppet King, all of them returning to their original bodies with _no _ill consequence. During that time, Vent had disposed off the puppet thing's body and promptly _forgot _where he did so aside from a note he wrote down. It was the next day then that a crew had been rescued from sea, the captain stating that a guy who called himself Trident had sunken their ship and made off with 40 barrels of toxic waste. Seeing as how they had to get to the bottom of the sea and fast, Cy chose that time to unveil the T-ship, a compound submarine capable of holding the entire team; Robin at the bow, Cyborg at the aft, Starfire at port, Raven at Starboard, and in the center was Beast Boy and Ventus using a compound cockpit, the latter acting as co-pilot for the prior since BB's cockpit had an airlock. Small enough for one of his smaller forms to hop into before it was flooded, where he could then transform into a fish and hit the open water when the hatch was opened. During the T-Ship's maiden run, Robin and Cyborg acted as the primary pilots, while Ventus worked on something he never tried before; Separating the oxygen particles out of water. If he could do so, then maybe he could create bubbles of air in emergencies.

Arriving at the seafloor, after searching the remains of the ship, Beast Boy went off chasing something, while who the group suspected to be _Trident _attacked them from behind. Taking the controls, Vent tried shooting the potential fish-man out of the water with the center component's onboard turret, only for the thing to weave around the shots too quickly and show that more work had to be done onboard weapon. It was after nearly meeting a watery grave that the group made contact with the Atlantian, Aqualad. Meeting him made Vent worry about what Pyro had said during _their _meeting, but thankfully two things worked against Aqualad's involvement the pyrokinetic's plans. The first was that Aqualad wasn't a _human_, and second was that he didn't seem the type to work for the guy anyway. Plus he only had _limited _hydrokinetic abilities, and the way Pyro was speaking, he was looking for one whose power was on a higher level than a hydrokinetic whose power was "diluted" by the addition of telepathy.

Taking residence in an undersea cave with an air pocket, the group was then briefed on who they were dealing with; Apparently, the Atlantian by the name of Trident saw himself as perfection incarnate, and thought this allowed him to do as he pleased. After seemingly getting a new power, what he had in mind could _not _be good for either world. With this in mind, the two groups decided to work together despite Beast Boy's protests, who thought this mission would be _his _time to shine. While Cyborg and a fish-faced Atlantian by the name of Tram worked on the T-Sub, Beast Boy went out with Aqualad to help find trident, the remainder of the group remained in the undersea cave waiting since they couldn't help with either situation. At the same time, Ventus continued to try and separate oxygen out of water, the effort proving most difficult for him out of anything else. It was one thing to snuff out a flame with low-density oxygen, but another thing _entirely _to separate molecules at the atomic level.

**Flashback Start**

"Vent. Is something wrong?" Raven asked as she sat beside the brunette at the water's edge, eyes and hands glowing bright silver with the latter outstretched as he tried to pull his own element out of the water in front of him.

"I'd _*pant* _be lying if I said there wasn't," he said letting the silver glow fade. "When our ship started taking on water _*pant* _I thought maybe... I could buy us a little extra time by _*pant* _separating the oxygen out of the water. But... _*pant* _then I realized I'd only end up making twice as much _hydrogen _instead."

"Was that what you were worried about? Us drowning?" she asked, the brunette nodding sadly. "Sorry I put it that way, but if I let my _real _emotions out, I may've ended up blowing our ship to bits," she sighed. "But, you don't have to bear the weight of the world on your shoulders, and we _can _take care of ourselves. We're a team, and that means we split the work six ways. So... don't burn yourself out over this. Okay?"

"... Raven... Thanks for talking to me," Vent sighed as he leaned on his back, kicked off his sandals, and set his feet in the water. "You know... This is just like last time when I was working on Roy's _Flame Alchemy_. I got so wrapped up in it, got so riled up by my failures, that I forgot about everything around me. So thanks, Raven. Thanks for being my light in the darkness," he said to her.

"That's... quite poetic," she said from behind her hood, blushing a bit at being called someone's _light_. "Just be sure to keep that kinda stuff to yourself at open mic night though. They might kick you out," she joked.

"Heheheh. I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Vent laughed in return.

**Flashback End**

As it turned out, Trident had planned on using the toxic waste as a fuel source to make an _army _of himself. Enough to conquer Atlantis, then the surface world, and with 70% of the world as his stomping ground to begin with, it could take anywhere from weeks to months or even _years _to stop Trident, had he succeeded which he didn't. In summary, Beast Boy and Aqualad had formed a pseudo-rivalry pseudo-friendship of sorts, Raven helped Ventus understand that he didn't need to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders, Cyborg made a fishy friend who understood tech like he did and was able to use the Seismic Blasters on Trident, Robin had made Aqualad an official Teen Titan, and Starfire... seemed to be acting stranger than usual.

And _that _was strange.

* * *

><p>It was quiet. Too quiet. A red microchip rotated slowly in the air, floating under its own power. Then, a large figure clad in black armor with steel plating in key areas stepped forward. The figure's face was covered, the entire face black with a red-orange circle in the center whose edges touch both eyes. The steel-gloved figure reached towards the chip, only to cock an eyebrow in surprise at the sight of a spiky-haired teen hanging upside down off of who-knows-what.<p>

"Tell Slade if he wants this, he can come get it himself!" Robin said dropping from his perch and delivering a kick that sent the thief tumbling across the darkened area. The lights coming on, the other five Titans formed up around him, as well as revealing that the chamber was stuffed with supercomputers. A laser beam then lanced down from above as a section was being cut out of the ceiling. When the portion of the ceiling fell, it then gave way to a large cloud of dust before several more figures like the first leapt in. Back flipping back to his friends away from the laser beam that cut across the floor, the new arrivals came right at them. Robin blocked and dodged several blows from his opponent, then tried a counter kick but was deflected, his opponent whipping out a brass knuckle-like blaster with a muzzle on the front edge and opened fire. Carrying himself out of danger, Robin performed a bout of acrobatic tricks before retaliating with a jumping roundhouse kick that sent his opponent into the far wall. At the same time, Starfire was avoiding the shots of the squad member who was leaping after her, only to get blasted by a starbolt and sent rolling across the floor. Another one however jumped even higher, and with his knuckle-like blaster sliced the lens of one of the overhead spotlights. When it began to fall, Robin quickly leapt through the air and moved her out of the way just in time, saving the Tamaranian from being crushed. When they landed however, three squad members were about to take aim at them, only for a computer cabinet to bulldoze them to the side.

"Amazing what you can do with computers these days," Cy said as he clapped his hands while Vent swiped the blaster one of them dropped, Beast Boy fighting one of the would-be thieves as a chimpanzee, clawing and biting at it. Elsewhere, Raven was strafing backwards through the air and avoiding another one's laser beams, her opponent flipping around in mid-air before sending off a large blade-like blast at her. Creating a blade at the last second, the two pieces of the ground that _were _hit had deep holes in them. The next moment it rushed her, giving her no quarter to attack, leaving her on the defensive until it suddenly kicked her legs out from her, blaster aimed at her face point-blank before-

"Dynamic Entry!" Vent shouted as he flew through the air and drove the thing's head into a wall-side first. "Heheh. Looks like you owe me Rae," he returned and whirled around, one of the things trying to rush at him before two large computers slammed into the would-be assailant's sides, wide eyed before he fell on his back. "Looks like we're even now. That's cool," Vent returned, Raven smiling as Cyborg had busted out his sonic cannon and was blazing away, Starfire joining him with a fusillade of starbolts, one of their targets leaping impossibly high and avoiding the blast. The next moment he pushed off the wall and grabbed the chip in a flying grab, his steel-booted feet racing for the door. Robin quickly chucked a birdarang at it, the projectile striking the thing's hand and sending the chip flying through the air.

"Mine!" Beast Boy suddenly called out after disengaging from his target, transforming into an anteater mid-run and lashed out with his tongue, grabbing it mid-leap before he slid across the ground to a wall, only for one of the commandos to stomp on his tongue and make him lose his grip on the chip. "Bluuugh. That tasted _so _nasty," he groaned as the four of the six commandos, two unable to move, dropped a smoke bomb and made their escape.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted making their way down the only hall in the room, soon coming into another chamber like the one they were in before, only with five additional doors at 60 degree increments from the center. "Split up!" he then ordered, the group going out the remaining five tunnels, Vent looking over his shoulder to see Robin looking around the room before he looked around, blaster in hand in case one of Slade's flunkies tried to get the jump on him.

* * *

><p>Following the split-up, Robin had removed one of the floor grates and come across the one who had the chip, the other five being decoys. Following him down the tunnel, the thief tried to escape to the outside by carving out a new exit at one of the tunnel's ends. There was a short confrontation with Star almost falling out of the sky and to the unforgiving ground below, but Robin had been able to capture the would-be thief and unmask him, only for it to be a highly advanced automaton. Behind the mask was a screen, from which Slade, the one who had seemingly hired Jinx, Mammonth, and Gizmo, was pulling the strings behind the theft. Cryptically, Slade conveyed upon Robin the importance of patience. Something he had yet to grow into after going solo.<p>

It was at that time that Beast Boy was trying to get everyone to slack off a bit and watch some movies. One of them had ninjas, while the other involved a Godzilla-esque monster. Raven wanted nothing more to read her book, and so responded with sarcasm, whereas Cyborg wanted to watch them both. While Raven had no desire to watch movies, she looked off to the side to see Vent staring out into space, an expressionless look on his face as he did so. In fact he was standing so still you could almost mistake him for a statue in living color.

"Hey Vent. Is something bothering you?" Raven asked while Star had left the room in an attempt to get Robin to "potato the couch" with them.

"It's all this Slade business and all," he said whipping out one of the brass knuckle-like blasters and spun it around his finger. The thing's battery died after the heist, probably as a measure of keeping any important parts from being tracked, so there wasn't any worry of it going off anyway. "Those... _Sladebots_. We only encountered six, one for each of us, but they fought on Commando-level. What happens if he sends an entire _army _after us, and with these blasters that can cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. I guess I'm just a bit worried about us, pardon the language, getting clusterfucked out there."

"Hey, don't worry about it man," Cy said trying to ease off his worries. "As long as we have each other's backs, we don't _have _to worry about stuff like that. They may have numbers, but we've got _skills _on our side," he said clenching a fist.

"Did you ever get around to that bladed weapon I suggested?" the brunette asked out of nowhere. "We held back before in case there were _people _behind those masks, but Slade isn't the kind of guy who relies on _human _help unless he has to so I don't think that'll become an issue. Sonic cannons and siccing animals on them is great and good, but a good ol' sword will put one of those things down for good."

"That's a little _morbid_ dude," Beast Boy remarked as the ninja movie started. "And don't you remember what happened to Hayate when Baki hit him with_ his _Kaze no Yaiba? The guy got _killed _because of it."

"I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear all that," Raven groaned, trying to tune out the "anime" nonsense she was hearing.

"Hey, I was just trying to injure him enough so he'd stop fighting. I didn't know he'd get a _scar _over it," Vent returned with crossed arms, thinking back to his fight with Pyro. "Besides, had Raven not fixed me up, I may've been short two fingers," he said, lightly nudging her in the shoulder.

"I just did what _anyone _did," she said getting back to her book. _I'm not really sure how that actually _relates _to this conversation, though it feels _nice _to be appreciated, _she added mentally.

"Hmmm... For some reason I have the feeling that things are going to get a _lot _more complicated," Vent then said to himself as he looked out the window, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up in the worst way. Growing up where _he _did, you tended to _listen _to the little warning signs.

* * *

><p>The following evening, back in the chamber from before which had yet to be repaired, two of Jump's armored SWAT troopers stood guard around the recovered microchip, placed back in the suspension field. Things had been calm for most of the day since the Teen Titans returned, but that silence was broken when an alarm went off. Running to the next chamber out to investigate, the doors were suddenly shut behind them, leaving the microchip unguarded. It was at this time then that a new figure materialized; He was grabed in a skintight black outfit with a large red X emblazoned over his heart, the lower end uf the upward stroke extended across his chest. He wore a long black cape over his shoulders, had a grey belt and gloves all of which were marked with red Xs, and a black mask covering his head with a white skull-like plate on the top, a red X on the forehead with the upstroke extended across his right eye. Plucking the chip from the field, the now-thief then whirled around to face the two guards as they had blown the door off its hinges.<p>

"He's got the chip!" one of them shouted, the two opening fire only for the figure to leap straight up and disappear in a blur of movement. "Where'd he go?"

* * *

><p>It was around the same time that the theft had occurred, that the others had arrived at the tech district of Jump, in response to the alarm that had gone off and the call sent. Robin had found a lead to Slade on the far side of town, leaving the other five to deal with the potential threat. When the connection was cut off, a skylight suddenly opened, and the same thief from before leapt out.<p>

"You working for Slade, tough guy?" Cyborg asked, decking out his sonic cannon.

"Red X works alone," the figure said in a heavily distorted voice, obviously to conceal his identity. Holding out his palm that had his namesake on it, he then fired a red X through the air, which Cy intercepted with his cannon while the others scattered. As the cyborg continued to fire, Red X dodged with practiced agility before launching himself high into the air and launching more Xs out of both palms, sending the cyborg running for cover. Touching down, the thief was then charged by a green lion, responding by launching a scarlet cross through the air that became liquefied mid-flight and stuck the green feline's face like a glob of mud. Being brought back to the roof with a heavy splat, he tried to change back to a human, gorilla, hawk, and elephant, only for the glue to persist, clearly designed to stretch and contain the strength of whatever the changeling could transform into. When Star and Raven rushed at him, Red X nimbly avoided the green shots and the black hand that emerged from the ground, hurling two red Xs at the girls. The first tied Starfire up like a giant rubber band and dropped her to the roof, while the second had caught Raven across the mouth in the middle of her chant's second word, toppling over after she tried to tear it away. The next moment Cy rushed at him from behind, only for the thief to sidestep easily.

"Huh?" was his intelligent response as the thief dodged his attack before he felt something slapped onto his back. "What?" he cried as the panel on his back opened up, the thief's grey-gloved hands tinkering with his circuits causing Cy to flail about wildly. "Hey! Yo, who told you how to shut me down?" he asked before he was pushed lightly to the ground, landing in a heap. The thief was about to bug out by running to the next roof, only for a brunette in stylized civilian garb and open-toed sandals to get in his way.

"Alright tough guy, try _me_!" Vent said rushing at Red X, who blocked the first punch with his forearm and countered with another of his own, only for the brunette to tilt his head to the side before he delivered a palm strike to his gut and sent him back. When the two began fighting in a heated martial arts battle exchanging kicks, punches, and counters, Red X's eyes widened at how equal the two were, even though the brunette seemingly had no prior training. While he'd taken the others out easily, he and Ventus seemed to be operating on equal terms. Or _would've _had he not gotten inside the brunette's guard and slapped a red X onto his face and covering his eyes. "What the- Crap! I can't see!" he cried trying to pull it off while Red X stepped away and teleported out. "Raven! Star! Where is he? Where did he-"

"He's gone Vent. The guy got away," Beast Boy said from his position on the ground.

"Craaaap!" the brunette cried trying to pull the thing off his face, only for it to hold fast.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-KSHHHHHHH-<strong>_

"Rumor has it, you're interested in _this_," Red X said into the monitor, holding up the stolen microchip, currently situated in a dark room and conversing with none other than Slade.

"I'm interested in _many _things, Mr..."

"X. _Red _X."

"Hmmm. _Catchy_. So, are you proposing a _sale _or a gift?"

"A partnership," the thief answered. "I give you the chip, you cut me in on your plans."

"Partnership. My, my, aren't _we _ambitious," Slade stated with a hint of amusement. "But, an alliance cannot be forged from one small chip. If you're going to win my trust, I'll require _more_ from you."

"Just tell me what you want," the thief stated plainly.

* * *

><p>The next morning, the group had returned to the command center to regroup and exchange info. Beast Boy had been freed of the red slime gluing him to the roof, but still had some of it in his hair, Raven with the red X slapped over her mouth, and Vent with <em>his <em>red X still slapped over his eyes, which at the moment he was still trying to be rid of, eyelashes be damned.

"I had no idea Red X would pose such a threat," Robin said addressing the other Titans, Starfire at the moment clipping red gunk out of BB's hair. "I should've been there," he said with a sigh.

"You _bet _you should've been there. Look at what the guy did to my '_do_! I'm looking at two months of bad _hair _days!" BB cried out motioning to his gunkified hair. Raven simply glared at him from behind her gag the best she could, the changeling and Tamaranian smiling cautiously. "I don't know Raven. That's a good _look _for you," he chuckled, the mage's glare and throbbing vein speaking volumes as to how _pissed _she was at the moment.

"Hold still," Cy suddenly said pulling the thing away from Raven's mouth in one swift jerk, BB and Star bracing for the inevitable. With a vivid red imprint left on her face, the mage held her lips pressed together as two ghostly images of her appeared to either side and screamed through gritted teeth.

"... Ow," Raven said plainly as the imprint receded, knowing if she'd let her emotions out she may've vaporized Beast Boy. Then again... "Even if you _had _been there, it would've have made any difference."

"Dude knew exactly how to bring each of us down. I guarantee he had a gadget with _your _name on it," Cyborg then stated holding onto the red X for later analysis. Hopefully for a solvent to dissolve the stuff in later confrontations.

"Agreed. You need not feel guilt. We are undamaged," Starfire said happily.

"Hel-_lo_?" Beast Boy asked indicating his mangled hair.

"_Mostly _undamaged," Starfire returned, the struggling brunette falling over the side of the couth at that very moment with a heavy thud, rising up a moment later and _still _trying to free himself of the vision-obstructing implement latched to his face.

"A cyborg's job is never done," Cyborg sighed as he grabbed one end of the red X and yanked it away in one fell swoop, taking the brunette's eyelashes and the far half of each eyebrow in the process.

"AAAAARGH!" Vent cried holding his face. "Son of a BITCH, that smarts!" he cried out in pain holding his throbbing face.

"Here, allow me to, _kiss it_ and _make it feel better_, as I believe I have heard it been used," Starfire said suddenly putting her hands on Ventus' shoulders and pressing her lips to his, much to the other's shock and Robin's horror. A few seconds later, the Tamaranian releasing him before asking, "There. Are you feeling better?" she asked, the Boy Wonder going into a corner to sulk while Raven shook with slowly-rising emotion.

"Star... I think you... misunderstood... the kissing it and... making it feel better... thing," Vent said a bit tipsy before falling backwards out of shock, earning a confused look from Starfire before Raven interjected.

"What Vent _means _is if you were going to _'kiss it to make it feel better', _then you should've kissed his _EYES_! Not _HIM_!" she growled angrily, her eyes burning red and a blast of energy sending Beast Boy flying into the air, the changeling landing head-first onto the carpet and finding himself glued to the _floor _now.

"Oh, my apologies," Star apologized.

"Just focus on getting Beast Boy's head off the carpet," Raven groaned. "Also, before you try and put any Earth customs to _practice_, run them by me first. Alright?" she asked in a no nonsense tone.

"Of course," Star asked as Cy hoisted BB off the floor, Star cutting at his hairs that were struck to the red carpet. "That aside, we are all eager to learn what you have discovered about Slade," she then stated.

"Nothing... Lead was a dead end... I should get back to work," Robin said wobbling from side to side as he left the room, _clearly _depressed about something. _Nudge nudge wink wink._

* * *

><p>The next evening, Vent having lamented the loss of both his eyelashes and half of each eyebrow, the four Titans were suddenly called into the command center, only for no one to be there.<p>

"Robin?" Starfire asked looking around. "Robin?"

"You mean Captain _Research_?" Beast Boy quipped dryly, his hair more-or-less back to normal. "Ah, he's probably filling out note cards at the public library," he said yawning expansively.

"I _was_," Robin said form the speakers, scaring the living daylights out of the changeling. "But then I spotted Red X pulling a robbery in the tech sector. Get here as fast as you can!" he said cutting off the transmission.'

"You got it, dude. We'll be there any..." was as far as Beast Boy got before nodding off, Cy grabbing a fistful of his clothing before yanking him away with a scream.

* * *

><p>"There!" Cy said, he and the others downtown, as he pointed to Robin, who at the moment had dropped down from another building in pursuit of Red X. A few dozen yards, and the black-clad thief had thrown a red net at him, ensnaring the former sidekick and sent him rolling across the pavement to where he started. "Robin!"<p>

"I'm fine! Get X! Go!" he shouted. While to Vent it wounded rehearsed, he paid it no mind at the moment. He had to give Red X a piece of his mind for his lost eyelashes. Keeping your eyes clean without them was a bitch. Running down the street towards a subway entrance, Red X dropped down the escalator in a single bound, the others following him.

"I've adjusted my ocular implant to scan at multiple sub-harmonics in the EM spectrum," Cy explained as he began looking around, his red eye gleaming.

"Kay... Do you come with _subtitles_?" Beast Boy asked.

"He _means _that even if this Red X guy is cloaked, he'll be able to see him," Vent stated. "Honestly BB, didn't you learn _anything _from the Doom Patrol?" he asked, causing the changeling's shoulders to slump before Cyborg was suddenly decked out of nowhere and sent several yards back. "_There _you are, you smug little bastard," Vent growled as he helped Cy up, who at the moment needed to clear his head from the hit he just took, X suddenly flying towards his back and slapping another red X there, only for Cy to maintain full control of his body.

"You gonna have to learn some new tricks, dog," Cy said as he fisted X's costume and threw him down the platform to the others, the would-be hacker landing in a crouch.

"Surrender! We do not wish to fight you!" Star shouted.

"Sorry. I'm not through with you yet," Red X said as he leapt high and threw another red X at her, one of Raven's barriers rising at the last second to stop it. Cy quickly tried to land a few punches, only to hit air before Star plowed into him, trying to low-altitude bulldoze the black-clad thief. BB and Rae quickly rushed him, X getting the better of both even when the prior turned into a bear, though the latter was sent into some crates. BB quickly caught Red X in the side as a bighorn sheep and resumed human form, only for Red X to catch hold of a pillar and swing around it, launching himself feet-first at Beast Boy who ducked, only to catch a punch to the jaw and was sent flying onto the tracks. Sitting up dazedly, the green teen snapped back fully when the glare of headlights fell across him as the train whistled down the tracks, just staring like a deer in the headlights about to snuff it on the grill of a pickup. The next moment Red X hurtled across the tracks and pulled the screaming boy to safety, both hitting the platform an instant before they would've been turned into railroad pizza.

"Dude! Did you just _save _me?" Beast Boy asked, Red X kicking him without a moment's notice a moment later and dashing to the exit only to stop when an irate brunette barred his path.

"This is for my eyelashes and half of each _eyebrow_ you sonofabitch!" Vent said as he pulled a match out of his pocket. "TAH!" he said running the head across his left arm, the all-surface match lighting before pointing it at Red X, the flame suddenly leaping through the air **_-snap- _**before _**-BOOM-**_ it knocked him into a pillar. The next moment another red X went for his eyes from behind the smoke, but the teen raised his hand and blocked it, the thief running at him and palming him in the face while he was distracted before running up the exit. "Damn it! What is it with these guys and hitting me in the _eyes_? Why-hy-hy-hy?" he cried holding his face. His answer however was Cy yanking the thing off in one swoop a second time, the teen cringing madly and eyes watering as he fell to his knees in too much pain to move. _Least I didn't lose anything _else_, _he cried to himself with waterfall tears.

"There there..." Raven sighed as she pat his shoulder, only for him to continue crying openly. _Geez. Why do I keep ending up in these situations? _she asked herself as she threw her hood back and placed her hands on the brunette's cheeks, bringing his face towards hers before she placed a light kiss on the center of the X mark between his eyes. "There, better?" she asked, throwing her hood back over her head to hide the blush at what she just did.

"Yeah... _*sniff*_ Thanks Raven," he said as he rubbed the last of the tears from his eyes. "Sorry I held you up."

"Hey, I'm in _no _rush to get one of those things slapped on my face," she stated as the two got up and ran out of the subway, the two following after the others. When they got back up to the street however, Red X had already escaped.

* * *

><p><em><strong>-KSHHHHHHH-<strong>_

"Impressive, Red X. I tapped into the security cameras to catch the performance. You treated the Titans to quite the show, though you could've handled that explosion better," Slade said from the other end of the monitor a half-hour later, gesturing to Red X's suit which had some scorch marks across it, the namesake persisting.

"While I'm glad you enjoyed it, I had the entirety of the situation under control," Red X countered, having not expected the brunette to run a match across his arm, then summon an explosion to send him into a pillar. Hard. "Is the audition over?" he asked holding up a blue microchip to accompany the red one he'd stolen prior, showing two in a set.

"Patience. Trust is _easy _to destroy, but it takes time to build," Slade said as his image shrunk toward the upper right corner of the screen, a green microchip on a white field appearing on-screen. "One last test. Prove yourself and we'll meet to discuss your future."

"Good," Red X said as the image disintegrated into static. "It's about time we meet face to face," _Robin _said removing the mask, chest aching a bit and thankful the explosion hadn't been full-powered. _If I check Vent's pockets for matches from now on, he'll know something's up. Have to keep it to myself, _he said shedding the costume and stashing it until later, as to hide the evidence.

* * *

><p>Getting back to the Tower after Red X ran off, the group was now trying to discern where he'd strike next. They'd already determined where he'd been, but after imputting the criteria for other high-end technologies departments, they ended up coming up with 23 potential theft sights. <em>Not <em>the best way to try and stop his _next _run.

"Robin!" Starfire cried when said ex-sidekick walked across the room, a box in his arms. "Wonderful! Our efforts to locate the Red X will benefit greatly from your help."

"It'll have to wait. I'm close to a breakthrough with Slade," Robin said as he continued to the door, Star gasping at the news.

"_More_ wonderful! Perhaps we could be of assistance to... you..." she said hanging her head dejectedly as the Boy Wonder left.

"Let him go. Not like he's been much help lately anyway," Beast Boy stated. "If Robin wasn't always A.W.O.L., X would be K._O.'d _by now."

"Y'all think maybe Robin's losing his grip?" Cy asked.

"Or..." Vent cut in. "What if Robin _is _Red X?" he proposed.

"No! You are wrong! I'll prove Robin is _not _the Red X!" Star said running out the room.

"... Did I go too far?" Vent asked. "I mean I didn't _mean _it, but now that I think about it, the entire thing _could _be a setup."

"Hard to tell. She looks up to him, and you tried to sow doubts into her mind," Raven stated. _Still, this is just like before with the Puppet King. Vent had his suspicions and they were on the mark, even though the _first _puppets were ordinary. Could he be correct about this too?_

"... I guess you're right. I should've chosen my words more carefully," Vent stated. "Still, if Robin _is _Red X..." he trailed off. "Then he _SO _owes me those Ignition Cloth gloves for my imitation Flame Alchemy after indirectly taking my eyelashes and half of each eyebrow!" he cried with flaming eyes as a flaming backdrop appeared behind him, the others backing away and _praying _Robin wasn't Red X, otherwise the brunette might bust a cap in the spiky-haired teen's ass.

* * *

><p>"<em><strong>Who's Slade?... You almost got hurt. Next time it could be worse... Nothing. Lead was a dead end... I'm close to a breakthrough... Sure you guys can handle this without me?"<strong>_

These were the words that echoed through Star's mind as she entered the Boy Wonder's room, stopping at his desk and picking up the item one from the end; the blasted birdarang from the sewer chase.

"Robin, where have you gone?" she asked before there was a flash, the Tamaranian girl dropping the weapon in her grasp and causing the small metal globe to roll off the desk and bounce across the floor. A moment later a beam of light shot straight up before splitting down the middle and folding towards the floor, a holographic image of Robin underneath Red X's net appearing.

"I'm fine! Get X! Go!"

"Huh? Robin?"

"I'm fine! Get X! Go!" Robin shouted, Star reaching out to him only for her hand to pass through his face. "I'm fine! Get X! Go!"

"If you were not really there, then where were- _*gasp*_" Starfire suddenly gasped. "Ventus was right! Robin _is _Red X!" she cried before running back to the group.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, a green microchip spun around in a suspension field, Red X then plucking the item away before a spotlight shone down, a man stepping into the light. He wore the same thing as the Sladebots from before, but his mask was red-orange on the left side and black on the right, the latter side not having an eyehole.<p>

"Excellent work," Slade spoke stepping into the light. "Honestly, I couldn't have done any better myself."

"So then, do we have a deal?" Red X asked.

"Indeed. You and I are so very much alike. It seems only _natural _that we should be partners?"

"What are they for?" Red X said holding up the three collected microchips. "I need to know what we're _planning_... partner."

"Patience. You can't expect me to trust you with such sensitive information right away... Can you, Robin?" Slade asked, Red X's eyes popping at the realization that his cover had been blown. The next moment a small net swept the three components from his hand and carried them to Slade, who caught it with practiced ease as a light suddenly came on. The darkened chamber was revealed to be oblong with several HIVE Drones _–the white black-trimmed robots from the HAYEP reel-_ standing along the walls, the balcony packed full of Sladebots, the mechanical enforcers slowly closing in. As Robin got ready to throw down, the entire room shook from the force of an explosion, the ceiling being blown out with five figures leaping down into the room.

"Titans! Go!" Cy shouted, Beast Boy, Raven, and Ventus rushing forward. As Red X sprinted across the room, an green octopus suddenly yanked one of the robots out of the way, Raven levitating a second and knocking it away, Vent blasting another one with wind and sending it into a wall.

"Gotcha!" Cy said grabbing Red X's cape and stopping his advance.

"Let me go! Stop him!" he shouted struggling pointing to Slade.

"No! Release him!" Star said flying down into the roof, only minutes behind the others. "He is-"

"-me!" Robin said pulling off the Red X mask.

"I _KNEW_ IT!" Vent shouted out loud while the others gaped.

"Slade's getting away! Come on!" Robin shouted as he ran off after losing half his cape, leaping over two robots flaking the door before running through. The others tried to back him up, only for the swarm of robots to bar their way.

"Well Vent, looks like you were right about _this_ too," Raven stated. "Vent?" she asked looking around for him.

"Hey Beast Boy, don't blink or you'll miss it," Vent said getting the changeling's attention as he held his hands a few inches apart from one another. "Rotation..." he intoned as currents of air began spinning in the air around his palm in multiple directions. "Power..." he intoned as the air spinning in his palm began to whirl about faster, denser, and with more power. "Shape..." he intoned as the spiraling energies of the sphere began to compress until a spinning shell was formed around the energies within. "RASENGAN!" he shouted driving the attack into one of the HIVE Drone's stomachs, the sudden shockwave sending the thing spiraling back through the air and taking out everything in its flight path.

"Dude! That was totally WICKED! Do it again! Do it again! Do it again!" Beast Boy cried in excitement, only to cry out in shock when Vent fell to his knees, four Sladebots leaping at him before Cy blasted two out of the air, and Raven knocked the remaining two into one another before tossing them aside.

"Too... much... energy..." he panted out as he fell back into a sitting position. "Don't worry... I can still fight," he said priming two air gun magazines and began firing wildly. "Raven! I need you to cover me while I reload!" he called out to the grey-skinned mage.

"Got it!" Raven answered as the two now stood back to back, the mage bringing up energy barriers and throwing whatever she _could _at the enemies, even one another, while slowly another line of air bullets hung from the bottoms of his extended fingers. They'd finish things up here, then get back to Robin.

* * *

><p>"You want to yell at me too?" Robin asked as Starfire came into his room, the boy currently staring at the Slade robot's mask that was now hanging on the wall. The chase after Slade was short after leaving the oblong chamber, stopping at a set of girders set above a Chinese restaurant for future construction. The fighting was fierce, but at the end of it, the Slade he fought was nothing more than another robot, its words revealing that his own lack of <em>patience <em>was what _truly _gave him away. Had he been a little bit moreso, maybe he would've succeeded. The group had gotten the chips back and handed them off to the tech divisions after the battle, but of course this didn't save Robin from everyone's yelling when he got home. "And I don't blame them," he sighed turning around. The brunette had almost _strangled_ him for taking off all his eyelashes and half of each eyebrow. Not only that, but his words regarding Robin ordering enough tech to make the Red X suit, but not even making _him _a simple pair of gloves, were laced with so much venom he could've killed half the city with it.

A terrifying thought really.

"I do not wish to yell, merely to understand. Robin, why did you not tell us the truth?" Star asked.

"I needed to fool Slade. If you guys knew it was me under that mask, you would've held back," Robin answered. "Doesn't matter anyway. Slade figured it out, and I still haven't figured out anything about him."

"That is not true. Whoever Slade is, you and he are similar. Slade did not trust you... and you did not trust us," she said as he left the room, giving Robin a reproachful look before leaving, Robin alone with the mask and thinking how long it would take to regain the other's trust.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Naruto (Rasengan).**

**Author's Note:  
>Took a little time to think of how Ventus' powers could be countered, and while it wasn't the most efficient, taking out his eyes so he couldn't see is just as good as strapping a red X across Raven's mouth, or gluing BB to the ground.<strong>


	12. FBA: Freaky British Academy

"_*GASP*_" Robin gasped out, suddenly coming to from what had just happened, or what had back _then_ happened. He and the others were sitting in the living room doing their own thing, Raven reading, Star whipping up some Tamaranian cuisine, Ventus, Beast Boy, and Cyborg playing a video game together, and he himself reading the paper as a form of relaxation before the tower was suddenly pelted with red, white, and blue-colored shells. Said shells began leaking a green gas into the Tower, catching everyone off guard and causing him to black out. Looking to his wrists and ankles, he saw that the polished chair he was strapped to bound his hands, wrists and ankles. With their own groans, the others began to come to, Star with red bands around her wrists, Cy with a large metal brace across his chest, Raven with white energy circling her, giant rubber bands binding Beast Boy to his chair, and Ventus had the same bindings as him except there was a brace covering his eyes. Looking around, he saw that he was in a large, partially lit atrium with black and white checker pattern floors, several balconies running around the walls with various paintings hanging everywhere.

"What the-" Cy called out as he tried to fight free of the brace, only for all sense of leverage to be taken away.

"Huh? Am I the only one who has no idea where we are?" Beast Boy asked.

"Why, you're right where you belong, my duckies. You're in _school_!" a male, Cockney accent suddenly spoke from the higher balcony before leaping onto the banister and sliding down to their level. The man appeared to be in his early forties with red hair in a Beatle cut with muttonchop sideburns. He wore small blue rectangular sunglasses on his face, a sportcoat with the design of the British Union Jack flag, a black shirt, a white kerchief tied around his neck, white pants, brown loafers, and black socks. The cane he held was black and topped with a large ruby.

"The eyes! Why do they _always _go for the _eyes_! Wh-h-hy?" Vent cried trying to shake the brace off his head and wrench himself free.

"Quiet you, the grownups are talking," the man stated angrily. "Ahem, now, as I was _saying _before I was so _rudely _interrupted, you six are the only students at Mad Mod's Institute for Bratty Teenage Do-Gooders," he said as he tossed the cane high into the air before catching it in his other hand. "And it's high time someone taught you sprogs a lesson," he said as the Titans continued to struggle against the bonds that held them.

"Titans! Move!" Robin shouted out to the others, who tried but were unable to break their bonds. Beast Boy cycled through a chameleon and a cobra as he tried to break free, Vent being unable to use his powers since he couldn't _see _the air he tried to manipulate.

"My starbolts are useless!" Star gasped as she found her primary weapon, well, useless.

"Specially designed _chairs_, love," Mad Mod said leaning in her face. "Can't have those nasty _superpowers _disrupting my lecture now, can I?"

"Get away from her!" Robin growled, Mad Mod straightening up before he thrust his cane into the teen's face, the cane releasing a bright light causing him to recoil from the glare as far as he could.

"Now don't get your knickers in a _twist, _my little snot," he said backing off. "I didn't go to all the _trouble _of building this school and filling your Tower with knockout gas, just to finish you up lickety-split."

"Then what do you want?" Raven asked.

"Just what I said, dearie. To teach you a lesson," he said leaning into her face before turning away and scratching himself, much to the mage's ire that he chose to do so in front of _her_. "Yes, I've been _watching _you children misbehave. And I _hate _misbehaving children," he said pointing to an Andy Warhol-style picture, which turned around to show Ventus and Cyborg fighting Lightning and Thunder. "Fighting crime," he said before the next picture down the line flipped out to show Robin and Starfire and cradling kittens they'd rescued from a blazing fire. "Saving lives," he said before the next picture flipped out, this one of BB in dog form... pulling down Plasmus' shorts? "Interfering with the plans of hardworking villains. Why, you lot are nothing but a bunch of _troublemakers_!"

"Let me out of this chair and I'll _show _you trouble, you freaking Brit!" Vent growled from his chair.

"_But_, you'll learn your place soon enough," he said ignoring the brunette. "You see, I'm _older _than you, so I'm bigger, badder, and _better_."

"Say wh_**-clang-**_OW!" Cy cried as he was bashed with the cane.

"You're in _my_ world now. And you _won't _be getting out 'til you've learned some proper respect," Mad Mod stated.

"We will get out. And when we do-" Robin threatened.

_**-BRIIIIING-**_

"Oh dear, there's the bell my duckies," he said giving the six a two-fingered salute. "Off to class," he said as the floor tiles began dropping out beneath each teen, dropping them to who-knows-where.

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy were back in the atrium, though the latter had the effects of a hypno-screen playing in his eyes while he drooled profusely. Robin had found himself dropped off in a mathEnglish classroom, and after breaking out of his chair, not only did different busts of Mod try and attack him, but a missile the size of a bus had _also _been launched at him. From that point he was locked in a confounding world of black and white, and physical contradictions before coming to another door. Arriving at an evil library, he then freed Starfire from yet another hypno screen in the form of a massive book before being squasbed by a giant **OVERDUE **stamp, escaping a flock of flying, _exploding _books, and made their way into a science lab. Upon arrival in the third classroom, they found the changeling in his chair facing a hypno-screen, a dunce cap on his head and the changeling drooling profusely. After narrowly escaping a slough of acid, the three had then gotten back to the atrium from before.

"Beast Boy?" Star asked the changeling as he sat crumpled up on the floor drooling all over his clothes as Robin looked around concernedly. "It is I, Starfire, your friend. Please! Speak to me!" she shouted louder. "Beast Boy? Beast Boy?" she asked knocking on his head a couple of times, the girl taking a deep breath before- "BEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSTTTTTT BOOOOOOYYYYYY!" she shouted with enough force to push the boy's faces back against their skulls. While Robin had shoved his fingers into his ears, Beast Boy only drooled and babbled a bit more before keeling over.

"Ah, Star? I don't think that's working," Robin stated.

"But we must do something or he will remain this way forever," Starfire said worriedly before the greenette fell against her midsection. The next moment, the sound of a door opening could be heard from above the atrium.

"Mad Mod! Come on!" he said hushing Star as he ran to the side of the stairs, Star simply dragging BB along as they huddled against the staircase.

"We'll hide here and then take him by surprise," Robin said coiling himself like a spring, only for some random mumbling to ire him rather quickly. "Any way to keep him quiet?" he asked, Star clapping a hand over his slack mouth only to shudder when his drool began to ooze from between her fingers. A set of footsteps coming down, the stairs, Robin and Starfire quickly rushed out in both a flying kick and a salvo of Starbolts, the prior suspended in mid-air by one of Raven's energy claws while the latter had Cy's sonic cannon primed in her face.

"Cyborg! Raven! Oh, how glad we are to see you!" Starfire cried out in joy, Cy disarming while Raven set Robin down.

"This place is making me _crazy_!" Robin cried out on the verge of yanking out his hair.

"Tell me about it. Mad Mod's wacked-out computer lab nearly crashed my hard drive," Cy stated.

"Where did your captor send you?" Starfire asked.

"Gym," Raven answered as she exposed her clothing. Her usual blue wristbands had been replaced with white ones, the white jersey had Mad Mod's name with a blue **0 **in the center, and she wore blue shorts, red knee pads, white red-striped socks, and black athletic sneakers.

"Anybody seen BB?" Cy asked, the changeling's babbling on the floor drawing their attention to him, where he was slithering along like an inchworm, lubricating his path with copious amounts of saliva.

"Mad Mod's hypno-screens. We can't snap him out of it. We've tried everything," Robin said worriedly for the changeling's brain.

"Did you try this?" Cy asked as he pulled an ear wide open and fired **_-BUUUUURP-_** a major-league belch directly into it.

"Nice one! Hahahaha!" Beast Boy laughed suddenly shaken out of his trance. "Uh... How did I get here and why am I covered in _drool_?"

The next moment however, a large howling sound echoed through the building before a door was suddenly blown out to the side. A gale-force winds sweping across the room and sweeping everyone's clothing back _-or at least everyone who had clothing that _could _be swept back-_ as Vent stepped out of the now-empty doorframe with a scowl visible on his features, standing in the heart of a veritable typhoon with his fists glowing brightly, and the metal brace that was once over his eyes suddenly torn off revealing his eyes to be glowing bright silver, almost white. As he stepped forward, the teen growled lowly like an enraged beast, looking around the room and seemingly missing the other's presence.

"Woah... Kinda like Aang in his Avatar State," Beast Boy noted, the only thing separating the two that the bald monk's glow was blue and that Ventus' was silver. Oh, and the bald part. "Good thing there isn't a _mountain _to blow us off of. Heheh."

"Really? Then how did they _stop _this... Aang's _Avatar State_?" Raven found herself asking.

"Well, the Water Tribe girl he met-"

"Just skip to the ending," Raven said plainly, really not in the mood.

"She ran up to him and snapped him out of it with love," Beast Boy said with all the subtlety of a car crash, everyone gaping at the answer.

"If it'll make you feel any better, I'll talk to him," Raven said after snapping out of it, the others _also _gaping.

"Um... Rae... I'm not so sure you're really the person for the-"

"**RRRRRR!"** Raven growled with red eyes as she loomed over Cyborg, tendrils flailing and causing him to pale.

"Uh, why don't you give it a shot," he then said waving her off.

"Thank you," Raven returned simply, disappearing into the shadows before she emerged at Vent's side and took his hand. "Vent, calm down. Please, tell me what happened," she said trying to get him to look her in the eye.

"**Fucking... haaate... music appreciation..."** Vent growled out as he turned to her, scowl still on his face as her clothing whipped about, revealing that somehow she had gotten back into her black leotard, blue wristbands, and shoes.

"It's alright. We'll stop Mad Mod and get out of this school, so please, calm down," she pleaded, the brunette closing his eyes before he dropped to the floor, the winds receding until they stopped altogether.

"Dude, that was _so _anticlimactic," Beast Boy stated, a flare of Raven's power causing a floor tile to rise up and smack him in the face. "Uwaaaagh," he groaned as he wobbled around before falling flat on his face.

"Wonderful! Now that Ventus has returned to us, we only need to locate an exit," Star cheered, glad that Vent was un-hypnotized.

"Or we just keep blasting 'til we _make _one," Cy said whipping out his sonic cannon.

"_Easy_. Last thing I smashed tried to smash me back. I'm sure this whole _place _is booby-trapped," Robin explained.

"Takes a booby to booby a trap," Vent huffed with crossed arms after coming down from his adrenaline rush at escaping his confinement. He was never comfortable with not knowing where he was, hence why he enjoyed flying so much. He could see for miles in every direction and not worry about a wall coming up or something.

"Then how are we supposed to get out?" BB asked rubbing his sore face.

"We're not," Raven stated. "Don't you get it? Mad Mod's just gonna keep messing with us until-"

"-we mess with him," Robin finished. "That cane of his controls everything in here. We take the cane-"

"-we take control-"

"-and we take him down!" BB growled finishing Cy's sentence. "Oh _I'll _find him. That demented doofus is never hypnotizing me a_gain_!" he said walking off before a painting on the wall suddenly popped out ans swung around to face him. In no time flat, the green teen was salivating, gurgling, and stumbling to the floor, Starfire catching him as the painting-turned-hypno-screen receded back into the wall.

"And here I thought you needed a _mind _to be hypnotized," Vent joked, Raven's lips upturning into a smile. Especially since _she _didn't have to waste her breath on something so obvious.

"Come on. Won't you lot ever learn?" Mad Mod asked rising on a platform from a black floor tile, balancing his cane on one finger and twirling it. "You're in _my _world, my duckies," he said pressing the ruby on his cane. "You can't win," he said taking off through the then-opened doors.

"Titans! Go!" Robin said leading the others out.

"But how do I-" Star asked.

"Make him laugh!" Cy answered, leaving Starfire on her own with Beast Boy as she held him up by his armpits, hoisting him up and smiling broadly.

"How many Okaarans does it take to hoegee a morflark? Finbarr!" she joked in what _would've _probably had BB rolling on the floor laughing if he were from Tamaran. "Um... boo-gers?" she then asked.

"Hahahaha! Boogers!" he laughed. "Aw _man_!" he cried when he realized Mad Mod got him again, Starfire yanking him through the door by his wrist.

_***Cue "K2G" by Puffy AmiYumi***_

Running down the hall, Mad Mod was riding on a motor scooter, wearing goggles and a sheepskin coat and helmet over his suit. Chasing after him, the Titans passed various pictures, Vent snapping his fingers at the music mysteriously playing in his ears as he passed a picture with Mad Mod in his original suit with a bunch of bananas hiding his face. The next moment he pulled them away and glared at the teens before throwing them down the far end of the hall, the lunatic jumping out of his frame and running off. Following him down the hall, the teens then ran in the opposite direction as Mad Mod suddenly pulled out an e_normous_ bazooka which he began firing at them.

The next moment they ran into a long wide room, the floor and ceiling marked with a lattice of large black holes. Mod dropped into one and out of sight, the Titans trying to follow only for the hole to block them. Drumming his fingers on the floor, Robin the noticed the nutcase pop up two spots over without his scooter, the team running to grab him only to suddenly drop behind him, the lunatic rising from the ceiling. Beast Boy quickly leapt at Mad Mod only to disappear down a hole, the others sticking their heads down a black hole each with their heads coming out at impossible places. Cy then picked up a hole and held it sideways, Vent examining it before he and cyborg entered it from opposite ends before it dropped to the floor like a manhole cover, Star jumping for it before shrugging and dropping out of sight when it ceased to be solid. Alone, Raven's eyes darted around the room as the others heads began popping out of the other holes like a Whack-a-Mole game gone haywire, nearly scared shitless as Cy peeked up with his head larger than normal. The next moment everyone got back together, only with musical instrumends and dressed in the sort of garish clothes often used by British bands in the 60s; Robin had a guitar, Cyborg had a bass, Raven was on the keyboard, Beast Boy was on the drums, Starfire was on the tambourine, and Vent was standing in front of a mic stand, music-related thoughts running through his complicated skull before Mad Mod drove past, the group _literally _leaping out of their garish outfits and giving chase.

The next moment the group inexplicably found themselves running up a long winding staircase, Mod powering his scooter up the incline while the others raced along for all they were worth, Mod stopping when he reached the top and hitting the top of his cane. The next moment, the stairs turned into a slide, Robin, Beast Boy, and Cyborg sent sliding down the stairs while Raven, Starfire, and Ventus watched them go. At the bottom, a hatch suddenly opened before a short stretch of stairs emerged, turning itself into a set of snapping jaws. Screaming, Beast Boy quickly turned into an octopus, Raven, Starfire, and Ventus grabbing his tentacles before he could get mulched, the changeling catching Robin and panicking before the four hundred-pound Titan Cyborg plowed into his face, the three flyers pulling BB and the others to safety while Robin scowled, angry about the use of his face like a makeshift safety net while Cy only shrugged and gave off a sheepish grin.

The next place they wound up in was a long hall with seven doors, all parties darting between them, sometimes in regular fashions, while at others they had to fight the forced perspective and either _squeeze _through the doors or leap up a story to get to the knob. BB passed through the doors in all manner of animal, be it whale, ostrich, gorilla, or hamster, Mad Mod using all odds and ends of transportation such as old-style British car, canoe with a coonskin cap, and penny-farthing bicycle. While this was going on, Vent pulled Raven aside to spare her the migraine while the craziness continued around them. By the end of it, Robin was able to gather the group in one place, pointing furiously to the doors as they fanned out and opened six all at once, nothing behind them leaving only one place. Tiptoeing towards the door while pointing furiously as the music disintegrated into random notes, Robin smirked to his comrades and yanked the door open, only for a colossal reptilian creature to roar at them, the music resuming while Mod leisurely stepped out from the far door and waved at them before running off behind a revolving wall. The moving bust standing out, Robin flipped the head backwards before exposing a red knob. Giving it a quick twist, the music stopped, the group's faces going slack in surprise as a peaceful meadow was exposed beyond the doorway.

"No way," Raven gaped.

"Is that what I _think _it is?" Cy asked.

"One way to find out," Robin said as he started to walk forward.

"Looks like the real deal," Cy said before the group fell through a white fabric screen, finding themselves back in the atrium where they started.

"Oh GOOOD DAAAAMN IIIT!" Vent cursed finding himself back where they all started, collateral-damage free. HIs earlier _tantrum _had thrown a few loose-hanging pictures from the walls and the tiles he was near from the floor, but to see it like this irked him greatly.

"Right back where we started!" Robin cursed.

"Of course you are, my duckies," Mod said as a section of the floor flipped over. "Class is over, and you lot haven't learned a _thing_. That's a failing grade for each blooming _one _of you," he said as the platform rose, a big red **F **appearing on the underside. "There's only one thing _for _it. you'll have to repeat the entire _lesson_!" he cackled as the stairs retreated to the first balcony, the walls falling outward to expose a curving black and white sunburst pattern all around, only broken by the doors and paintings that remained exactly where they were. At that moment, an army of Mod Busts rolled in sporting a plethors of weapons, while Beast Boy had been re-hypnotized, the others forming around him. "Time for class, my duckies. Everyone back to your seats!"

"Vent, how far have you come in Roy's Flame Alchemy?" Robin asked, seriously wondering how _anyone _would take Vent seriously in the future if all his moves were reproductions of things from anime and video games.

"_Well_ Robin I _just_ don't _know_. You _won't_ let me near my _lighter_ and you _won't_ give me the gloves I asked for, even _after _you ordered enough _tech_ for a new suit and _blinded me_, so why don't you _take_ your question and _shove it_ up your-" was as far as he got, his voice _laced _with sarcasm before he felt something smack his face. Looking down in his hands, it was revealed to be a pair of crisp white gloves with black pads on the thumb and middle fingers. On the backs of the gloves sewn in red thread were two concentric circles close to one another leaving the center free. On the top was a small flame with a circle inside it, in the middle were two triangles forming a diamond in the middle with a triangle in the upper part of the diamond, lines a couple centimeters from the tips in the four _triangles _surrounding the diamond, and below the bottom triangle but above the two circle's arches was what looked like a salamander.

"Here they are. Now start practicing," Robin ordered, the brunette grumbling something to himself about _unappreciative traffic lights _as he slipped the goggles on and snapped his fingers a few times, finding that the gloves fit like... gloves, and that they made fairly large sparks. "Now! Get that cane!" Robin shouted as the others ran off, leaving Raven holding the brainwashed Beast Boy before-

"Alright you fucking Mod Busts," Vent said slicking his hair down and closed his eyes, a single strand sticking straight up. "Let us see how you fare against _I, _the _**FLAME Alchemist!"**_ he shouted as he snapped his eyes open, which were suddenly narrowed suddenly performing an impersonation of Roy Mustang as he snapped his fingers, a tiny red dart flying through the air and into one of the Mod Busts, which suddenly detonated in a massive fireball. _**"Raven, keep the changeling safe and watch my back. I'll act as heavy artillery in case the others need a fallback point," **_he ordered in a deeper and suddenly more authorative tone, his fingers snapping madly as waves of flame were sent off his left hand, and explosive flickers were sent off his right. Elsewhere, Cyborg caught Robin's foot after linking hands and hefted him upward, the cyborg crushing a flying bust to gravel while Robin began hopping from one onboard head to another, dodging the occasional laser blast before leaping into the air, a Mod Bust being vaporized by one of Star's projectiles a moment later.

"Oy, no roughhousing! Do I have to _separate _you lot?" Mod said pressing the ruby on his cane and causing the floor tiles to rise up in massive square columns, Starfire on a collision course with Mad Mod only for a panel from below to shoot up in front of her without warning.

"Eek!" she cried as she stopped barely and swerved around the obstacle, only for her path to be obstructed before another panel carried her up against her will. While Robin tried leapfrogging up to Mad Mod, a column suddenly rose up from in front of him and knocked him down while Cy was carried up towards the ceiling. When the pillars stopped, the group had now become oriented on a staggered pyramid of steps resembling the layout for the arcade game Q*bert. Robin then dodged another salvo of lasers before hitching a ride on one of the busts and flew towards a door floating in midair, leaping over it in time to avoid the explosion. Elsewhere, three Mod Busts were about to fly at Raven, however they were all blown out of the air with a triple _**–snap snap snap-**_ courtesy of Roy Mustang's signature technique.

"Uh, Vent, listen, while it's _fascinating _to watch you put a fictional character's attacks to practice in real life," Raven said still holding onto BB's shoulder, having thrown up shields whenever applicable. "WOULD YOU WAKE HIM UP?" she demanded angrily, the changeling nearly drooling on her. Only reason she didn't set him down was because she couldn't count on him to not scuttle off.

"_**Very well. Stand back miss watch the master at work,"**_ the Flame Alchemist-emulating brunette said with crossed arms, Raven's eyebrow twitching at being called _miss_. _**"When I'm Fuhrer, there will be changes..." **_the brunette paused before assuming a dynamic pose. _**"**_**That day**_**! All female officers will be required to wear, TINY MINISKIRTS!" **_he said as a pink backdrop with a plethors of blue miniskirts moved by in the background.

"You're a miracle, Mustang! I'll follow you for the rest of my life!" BB said suddenly leaping up and hugging the brunette's knee before realizing what had happened. "Aw, not again!"

"_**Changeling! Charge!"**_ Vent then ordered pointing to a metal spider-legged Mod Bust heading towards them.

"Sir yes SIR!" Beast Boy said with a salute before charging at it as a rhinoscerous and smashed it to bits. Looking around and seeing the others locked in conflicts of their own, a seemingly endless supply of Mod Busts coming towards them, Vent's eyebrow twitched before he suddenly shouted out- _**"Titans! To me!" **_–with no room for argument, the others looking to one another before rejoining him, the Mod Busts heading towards them while Robin continued to try and get at Mad Mod.

"_**All of you stay behind me. I'm going to burn these things to the **_**GROUND**_**!"**_ Vent shouted as his eyes narrowed and glowed silver, the air _visibly _becoming denser around the advancing forces on the ground before he poised his left hand forward. For a moment they continued to advance upon them, but the next moment there was a snapping sound, and then- _**FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! **_–the entire room in front of them was razed in an unending firestorm, the likes of which none had ever seen. At the same time, Robin had realized that the Mad Mod he was facing was fake when his hand passed through its cane, and began looking around for a potential exit point.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, a man sounding similar to the one who had been terrorizing the group all day, but appearing twenty years older with most of the hair atop his head gone, was sitting in front of a bank of monitors. Working a complex array of controls, he continued to send wave after wave of Mod Busts at the team, only for them to remain tightly-packed together and blow everything away that he sent out them.<p>

"Blast that brunette. Boy's gone blimey _psycho _down there," the man said shielding his eyes as the screen he was watching flashed bright red, orange, and yellow as yet _more _of his machines were vaporized. "What is _with _that one? Does he have no appreciation for a man's hard work?" he asked before noticing something missing. "Just a tick. Where's Robin?" he asked before the screens began to fill with static one by one, whereas on the ground floor Vent fell to the floor with throbbing fingers, the Mod Busts of varying types falling to the floor as everything began to shut down. "My machines! The meddling little snot will pay for-" he said before whirling around, Robin dragging him forward by the lapels of his coat and having lost the use of his tongue. "Hello, guv'nor," he said weakly.

"School's out, Mod. And you're looking at about twenty _years _of detention," Robin said with narrowed eyes, the elderly Englishman recoiling a bit at the prospect.

* * *

><p>"Ha!" Cy cheered opening an overhead hatch to the sky above which led to a steel platform. "Oh yeah, that is <em>definitely <em>the real deal."

"School always _seems _smaller after you graduate, doesn't it?" Robin asked.

"Just don't expect me to go to any re_unions_," Raven stated drolly.

"Friends, I am worried for Ventus' mental state," Star then said out of nowhere.

"Preaching to the _choir_ on that one," Robin stated with crossed arms. "I've doubted his sanity since day _one_."

"No, I am _serious_. Ever since assuming the mantle of the Alchemist of Flame, our friend Ventus seems unable to return to his normal self," she said pointing to Ventus who stated out into the distance with his arms crossed and a steely expression on his face, his hair still slicked down.

"Hmmm... Ah ha!" Beast Boy said before suddenly turning into a Shiba Inu puppy and leaping into Robin's arms who caught him by his armpits, the changeling whimpering loudly, catching the brunette's attention. Walking over, he stood _over _Robin, then liberated the dog from the teen's hands before looking at him with a steely expression.

"_**Dog huh...?"**_ he asked with a long pause. _**"I **_**love**_** dogs!"**_ he then said in an enthusiastic voice.

"Uh... Really?" Robin asked.

"_**Of course! **__**Dogs embody loyalty! They follow their master's commands above all else!" **_he said getting in Robin's face with a steely look in his eyes as they gleamed unnaturally. _**"Be a jerk to them and they don't complain, and never **_**once **_**beg for a paycheck," **_he said bouncing the transformed BB up and down who began whimpering._** "Trust me Feury! They're the great servants of **_**man**_**!" **_he went on while Robin looked positively freaked out. _**"Loyal canine, how we salute thee. Hahahahaha!"**_ he then cackled out, Raven rubbing the bridge of her nose at how Beast Boy had "broken" Vent, while Starfire tried to figure out just what was going on. Cy on the other hand found this just too damn funny.

"... We'll fix him later," Robin stated. "Come on Cy. Let's hand this guy off to the cops so we can air out the Tower."

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Fullmetal Alchemist (2001-3 version).**


	13. Cars

It had been a few days after the tower had gotten gassed by Mad Mod, and things more or less returned to normal. The windows that had been damaged were removed and replaced with a new set courtesy of Wayne Enterprises, this set being only one step below the brand of foot-thick glass used on the Watchtowers overlooking the Earth, the ones on the tower simply thinner than that. The Tower's defensive systems were also incorporated with a Purge feature to help remove gases from possible future attacks by sucking out as much air as possible as quickly as possible, while venting clean air in through emergency reserves. When they got home however, the group had tried several different methods of trying to get Vent back to normal, only to find out that he had essentially become _locked _into "Flame Alchemist Mode". Running him through a scanner, Cy discovered that the soundwaves in Mod's "Music Appreciation" class had made the brunette's mind momentarily susceptible to subliminal suggestion since he wasn't _as _suggestible as Beast Boy, and that when he recalled Roy's mannerisms during the fight, he had apparently hypnotized _himself _into adopting Roy Mustang's persona. Or at least the one from the 2001-3 version of FMA. While the means wasn't pretty, the group had finally been able to snap Vent out of it with enough of a shock.

It was at this very moment a couple days later that the team stood in the garage, Cy standing in front of a large semi-aerodynamic object hidden beneath a tarp. Cyborg had been downstairs in the garage for most of the day with a curtain up working on _something_, and it was at this moment that he was about to unveil what it was.

"Drum roll please!" Cy called out, BB transforming into a lemur and thumping his belly. "Ladies and gentleman... and whatever _Beast Boy _is..."

"Hey Cyborg. You want a drum roll or not?" BB asked returning to human form after the comment, dropping out of sight but this time picking up the pace.

"Sorry," he apologized before the others could just _taste _the fervor rolling off of him. "It is my great _pleasure _to present, for the first time anywhere, the thing you've _all _been waiting for, my _coolest_, hottest, _baddest_ creation-"

"Just get _on _with it," Raven stated.

"I give you the future of Titans' transportation," he said enthusiastically with a wide smile and fingers wriggling. "The one, the only... T-CAR!" he said yanking the tarp away, revealing a heavily-customized van-shaped car. It had a white body with blue trim along the sides, the front bumper resembling the circuitry that could be seen through the transparent coverings on Cy's body.

"Dude!" "Cool!" and "Oooooh!" were Robin, Beast Boy, and Starfire's reactions.

"Yep, _she's _my baby," he said patting his baby. "One-hundred-thousand-horsepower plasma-turbine engine... all-terrain hoverjets... antilock air brakes... and an onboard computer that links with my systems. So I can _literally _feel the road," he went on to explain, Robin and Starfire in complete and total awe. "_And _of course, leather seats, power windows, and a booming stereo are all standard," he said hopping into the drivers seat as a giant set of speakers folded out of the roof and blasted the others back, Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy sent flying while Vent de-densified the air around him and Raven to soften the blow and stop them from being bowled over.

"Woah!" Robin whistled.

"Nice!" BB hollered.

"It _sings_!" Star giggled, the three of them in various states of dishelvement.

"Can we go now?" Raven asked, seemingly unfazed by how _awesome _the T-Car was.

"You bet, Raven. I'll take you anyplace you want to go," Cy stated.

"The beach!" BB suggested.

"The movies!" Robin chipped in.

"The swamp moons of Drenthax Four!" Star cheered, the two boys floored by the suggestions. "He said _any_place," Star said blushing in embarrassment.

"How 'bout we all get to town and we decide when we get there?" Cyborg suggested, the others nodding as they began to get in. Cy was about to hit the startup button, only to notice Vent was still standing beside the T-Car. "Come on man, why aren't you getting in?"

"You seem to have overlooked something in your design," Vent said plainly with his arms crossed.

"What? But I put everything, and I mean _everything _in this baby!" Cy cried. "Just _tell _me what I forgot," he stated, Vent raising five fingers in response. Thinking for a moment, he looked over his shoulder to see the problem. "Awww MAAAN!" he cried pounding his head into the steering wheel, causing the horn to go off. "I totally forgot to install the extra _seat_!" he cried out with tears streaming from his eyes.

"Yes, I see how that will be a problem," the brunette sighed. "No worries. We can just alternate between who flies and who rides when we take out the T-Car," he stated lacing his fingers behind his head, noticing Cy still crying. "Hey, buck up man, it's still an awesome car. We'll just have to work out a schedule is all," he said twirling a nondescript set of keys on his finger. "Besides, I have to return that patrol car to the JCPD anyway, so it isn't like I'll be flying _all _the way to the city," he stated, jabbing a thumb at the nondescript vehicle that had served as their transport for the past couple months. _"Of course if you build me a cool _hoverboard _or something like the one from Sin and Punishment: Star Successor with some of those Gordanian parts we got lying around, I won't be too upset about it either," _he added slyly. Flying was cool, but displacing enough air to move his frame through the air was a little tiring if he did it for too long.

"I can do that," Cy suddenly said with an upbeat voice.

"Alright then, I'll follow you," he said running over to the patrol car. Better he return it early than procrastinate about it.

* * *

><p>Following the T-Car into town, Vent <em>thought <em>he wasn't missing too much by not riding in it. Oh how wrong he was. It was a total _laugh-_fest. Star was pressing every button in reach and nearly sent Cy flying via ejector seat _-which he _explicitly _warned her about-_, Beast Boy was sticking his head out the passenger window as a dog _-Cy griping at him about not drooling on the paint job_-, and Raven was tuning the others out as she read FEED _-which she borrowed-_. It was _certainly _quite different from the usual zombie book, taking place twenty years _after _the start of the zombie outbreak in question, and this only made her wonder what kind of person Ventus was if he could be giddy with laughter _one _moment, and then read depressing books like that the _next_. He may've been unstable, or maybe everyone _else _was unstable and he was the only "stable" one.

There wasn't really any established critera for terms like "normal" and "stable" after all since it was _all _relative to comparison.

After dropping off the patrol car with the JCPD, Vent took to the skies and followed the T-Car into town, receiving a heads-up from Robin that there was trouble at Cook's Electronics. Shooting ahead through the air, he came upon a large Japanese-esque-style building with large yellow-tinted windows, a red lantern-like sign with **COOK'S **on it with **Cook's Electronics **beneath it. At the moment everyone was running and screaming from whatever was inside, the brunette running crowd control to ensure no one trampled anyone else, and that everyone got out before the fight broke out. It was a few minutes later that the T-Car arrived at the site, and while the others rushed into the store, Cy was busy putting a wheel lock over the steering wheel and wiping the windshield lovingly. He was _about _to get into a conversation with two guys about how cool his car was, but Raven went back and began dragging his massive bulk, an impressive feat to say the least considering the mage was a third his size and weight, across the parking lot by his remaining ear.

"Boys," Raven grumbled disgustedly as she dragged Cy along.

"Here, let me take that off your hands," Vent said extending his hand to her, the mage releasing Cy's ear a moment later.

"Whoa! Almost forgot to switch on the alarm," he said pulling out a keychain and hitting the alarm, the headlights flashing and siren blipping briefly before he was dragged off by his human ear once more. "Hey man! I don't want to have to replace _that _too!" he cried out as he was being dragged in by Vent.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile inside the electronics store, high-voltage arcs ran along the shelves of stereo speakers, which began breaking them down into dust before drawing them to the source, televisions and VCRs receiving the same treatment. At the heart of it all was a vaguely humanoid being composed entirely of electricity, a black card-shaped circuitboard with red circuits forming a one-eyed face serving as its point of origin.<p>

"**Mine! All mine!"** the being cried happily.

"If you're going to take all that stuff, you'd better be ready to _pay _for it," Robin said as he and the others came in.

"**Foolish biological. Overload will **_**destroy**_**!" **he said pounding the floor, sending a few thousand amperes at them as they dodged the attack.

"Hey guys. At the opportunity of cutting potential collateral damage to a _minimum_ for once, mind if _I _take this one?" Ventus asked. "After all, air _is _an excellent electrical insulator," he reasoned with a controlled breeze blowing at his hair for emphasis.

"Go for it, we'll back you up!" Robin said as he and the others scattered, taking positions around the _second _electrical being the team facedin case he proved too much for the aerokinetic. The elemental being Thunder _didn't _count to the total because he was _sound_-based, while his brother Lightning _was _electric-based.

"**Overload will des**_**troy **_**you!"** the electrical being roared.

"We'll see about that!" Vent said with his hands turned upward, silver energy tornadoes suddenly erupting off of his fingertips. "Hurricane Wave!" he shouted as he threw his arms down, the ten long, thin tornadoes barreling into Overload and bearing down on him with tremendous force. "Not done yet!" he said leaping at his opponent, standing on his hands in front of him and pulling off an impressive split as Overload tried to reorient himself. "Tempest Twist!" he called out as he began spinning around on his hands, the wind-powered spinning kicks pulverizing Overload before he flipped back. "Raven! Platform!" he called out as he flew through the air, the mage complying by creating a round platform in mid-air, which Vent pushed himself off of before flying at Overload feet-first. "Roseo Temporale!" he cried out rapidly kicking the electrical adversary with both legs so fast you would've mistaken him for the Flash, the thing sent flying back, seemingly _winded _from the force of the wind-laced physical attacks done to his form, only for him to rise again. "Okay guys! I could use that backup right about now!" he called out.

"Right!" Robin called out. "Titans! Soak him!" he ordered, Beast Boy guzzling the cooler bottle down before transforming into an elephant and spraying Overload through his trunk like a firehose. Robin quickly grabbed an _actual_ fire hose and began spraying too. Star was about to shoot down the ceiling-mounted sprinklers, only for Vent to pull her back and motion to the emergency switch for the sprinklers on the wall. Nodding embarrassingly, Star pulled down the red switch while Raven erected a barrier over the electronics, preventing vast collateral damage as the combined aquatic-based assault shrunk Overload down to size.

* * *

><p>"Well. <em>I <em>had fun," Vent stated with his fingers laced behind his head as he walked out, satisfied that while he hadn't been able to _completely_ defeat Overload on his own, he _was _able to not only wear him down considerably, but also prevent untold collateral damage to Cook's Electronics and its products, probably several thousand _dollars_ worth. Something the owner was thankful for profusely in the form of a nice gift, which cost little in comparison to what was saved. "It was awfully nice of the manager to offer me that home entertainment center too too. Four-foot flat screen and everything," he then added, Robin wheeling the gurney out of the store with a flat screen TV, VCR, and DVD player in their boxes.

"Speaking of which, shouldn't _you _be carrying it?" Robin grunted pushing the gurney forward.

"Can't. Legs are sore," Vent groaned rubbing his sore legs. That kicking _did _take a lot out of him, no joke.

"Hey Vent, those were Kazemon's attacks from Frontier right?" BB asked excitedly. "How come you didn't do her _last _attack?" he asked wriggling his eyebrow trying to get a rise out of the brunette.

"Because she and I have different _attributes_," Vent said clearly talking _down _to the changeling, given the context of the fourth attack which he did _not _use in the fight for two reasons. The _first _was already mentioned, while the second was because he didn't want to get electrocuted. _Again, _he added bitterly.

"Soon as we hand Sparky over to the cops, how 'bout we swing by the drive-thru?" Cy suggested while Star carried the captured overload over her shoulder in a thick, insulated blanket.

"Uh... dude?" BB said pointing to the parking lot, Cy gasping in shock as he ran over to a downed wheel lock and a red alarm system out in the open.

"My wheel lock! My car alarm! My baby!" Cy cried as he collapsed to the ground. "Somebody stole my _baby_!" he sobbed pounding the ground with his fist.

"Hey Larry? Yeah, this is Vent. I'm going to need that patrol car back. Cy's T-Car got T-Carjacked and I have some stuff that needs to be moved back to the tower," Vent said into the cellphone given to him in case he needed to make a _regular _call while Cy continued to cry about the loss of his baby. It wasn't that he was _heartless _about it or anything, but he _was_ a tad miffed about the cyborg forgetting to put in a sixth _seat_ for him.

"I understand your pain Cyborg," Star said putting a hand on his shoulder. "When I was very small, my favorite zarnik was eaten by a rampaging gloorg. Believe me, after your zarnik has been inside a gloorg, you do _not_ want it back."

"My car wasn't _eaten_. It was _stolen_!" Cy cried out, Star's zarnik and his T-Car being two completely different cases altogether.

"Hey, look on the _bright _side. At least it wasn't _my _fault," BB said with a wide grin.

"Not really helping," Robin stated, BB laughing nervously before he turned to Cyborg. "We'll help you find your car, I promise. But right now, we've gotta take Overload to jail," he stated, the soggy villain grumbling wearily.

"No! We gotta go _now_! Every second we wait is a second she could get scratched or dinged or-"

"Calm down. It's _just _a car," Raven stated interrupting Cy's sentence, only for the cyborg to get up in her face.

"She's not just a car, she's _my _car," he said stalking away. "And I'm gonna find her, whether you guys help me or not!"

* * *

><p>Shortly after Cy's outburst, the group quickly passed the "Overload in a blanket" to the cops for transport to a special cell for super-powered criminals, then began searching all over for the T-Car. The trip to the tower via teleport was near-instantaneous thanks to Raven's powers, and with his stuff back in his room waiting for use, Vent along with Starfire and Raven took to the skies in pursuit of the T-Car. Robin patrolled around town looking for <em>any <em>indicator as to where the heavily-customized vehicle may've been, while BB had transformed into a bloodhound and tried to _smell _it out. Cyborg had made the most headway in his investigation with the headstart, finding that a pair of punks by the name of Sammy and Cash had taken it to Crash Alley, a notorious race track which truly did live up to its name. Arriving at the scene, he found the two carjackers suspended in an orange energy bubble, and after squeezing the two for information, found that his car had been stolen _again_, this time by the tiny terror Gizmo. Good news bad news; Cyborg found Gizmo _and _the T-Car. The bad news was that not _only _had it been painted with orange flames and equipped with tacky fuzzy dize, but through his indirect assistance, Gizmo managed to get away with the T-Car over a drawbridge, Cy falling onto a garbage barge as the T-Car got away via Nitros Boost.

"Fourteen milkshakes. _Not _a good sign," Raven said finding Cyborg an hour later after the search had began, sulking on the curb of the drive through from before, fourteen emptied milkshake cups strewn about as he sat on the curb. Guy was so big on his own it justified taking up a parking spot.

"What are you doing here?" Cyborg asked wearily.

"Looking for your car. Soon as we turned Overload in to the police, we all split up to search the city," Raven explained. The side-trip with Vent back to the tower to drop his gifts off was a momentary detour, not really worth mentioning to the mourning teen.

"Might as well stop looking. T-Car's probably halfway to Metropolis by now," he said before pausing. "... From the day I designed her, I knew she was gonna be special. And I worked so hard, every fuel injector, every spark plug, I made her perfect. I put my heart, soul, and _circuits _into that car. And now she's gone forever... Maybe you were right. Maybe it _was _just a car."

"Maybe. Maybe _not_," Raven stated. "When I use my powers, I have to put a little part of my soul into whatever I'm moving. I become a part of it, and it becomes a part of me. That's kinda what happened here. It wasn't just a car. It was... your _baby_."

"... Yeah," Cy said brightening up a bit. "Thanks Rae," he said before the screeching of tires reached his ears.

"And someone's eating _onion _rings in your baby," she stated, the T-Car about to peel out of the restaurant, the waitress trying to collect on the bill only for him to dine and dash with that snarky laugh of his.

"HE'LL GET KETCHUP ON THE SEATS!" Cy growled, Raven tapping his shoulder and pointing to a black convertible with the top down, Cash and Sammy talking up a waitress.

"So we were stuck. Looked like we'd get busted for sure," Cash said, trying to impress the waitress.

"But then we _totally _escaped before the cops showed up," the shorter teen said, the two suddenly finding themselves on the wrong end of Raven's powers.

"Escape from _that _before the cops show up!" she growled. She was quite defensive of Cyborg, Ventus, and to an extent, Beast Boy after they helped her... clear her head a while back.

"Sweet ride. Mind if we borrow it?" Cy asked holding up the keys, the two hoodlums having no real response other than a pair of very scared smiles.

"THERE YOU ARE YOU LITTLE SNOT!" a voice suddenly cried out, the two looking up to see an irate Ventus chasing after Gizmo. "JUST WAIT 'TIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!"

"Yo Vent!" Cy called out getting his attention.

"Cyborg, Raven, you about to chase after him too?" Vent asked as he landed beside them with his hands on his knees, panting slightly.

"Yeah, we're just about to go after him," he said hopping into the convertible, his impressive girth causing the car to drop a few inches. "Wanna join us?" he asked as Raven hopped into the passengers seat.

"Sure. Whoo. I'm a little tired, but I'll do the best I can," he said throwing his legs over into the drivers seat. Normally Cash would object to people just _hopping _into his car, but he'd gotten on _two _Titan's bad sides. No need to have _half _of them breathing down his neck right?

"Alright then!" Cy said peeling out of the drive-thru. "Let's get my ride back!"

* * *

><p>The chase eventually led to a curved road hugging the mountains just west of Jump City, and while Gizmo had the better car, Cy's skill more than made up for it. While Vent rested in the back seat, apparently the only one to put on his seatbelt, he watched in awe as Cy and Raven worked in perfect tandem to reach Gizmo. The tiny terror nearly made Raven lose control of her powers for a few seconds before a third vehicle, one of the JCPD's prisoner transports, came into view around the corner. While Raven pulled up and the two guards leapt out the doors, Gizmo hit the ejector seat and flew out just in time for the T-Car to bite the dust, said vehicle currently fetched up against the undercarriage when the dust cleared. Bringing down the black convertible for a safe landing, Cyborg ran out to the remains of his baby, Gizmo cackling madly at his apparent victory before Raven bundled the tiny teen up in the parachute and dropping him to the ground, effectively shutting him up.<p>

"Please be okay, please be okay, please be okay..." Cy cried worriedly as he ran up to the wreck, sparks crackling against the side of the overturned van before a lightning bolt poured itself into the T-Car, which pulled out to face Cyborg a moment later.

"**Car is better than okay. Car is **_**mine**_**!" **Overload said from the drivers seat, Cyborg letting out a small gasp. Laughing and pulling out the circuit board that Cy had put in originally, the electrical being then fed himself into the car's systems, the interior glowing red as the car began to repair itself and the car returning to pristine condition. However, the white bodywork then turned an angry gray, the blue circuits becoming red, the windows and windshield tinting black, and the headlights narrowing into fierce slits as the car revved up. **"Only way to stop Overload is to **_**destroy **_**your precious car!" **the electrical being then cackled, only to suddenly register another presence within the car.

"Hi there. Mind if _I _drive?" Vent asked suddenly hopping into the driver's seat through the passenger door and hitting the eject button on the center console. When half the card-like circuit came out, Overload tried to force himself back in, though Vent wasn't going to have any part of it. "Why you little _bastard_! You get outta that hole!" he growled as he continuously pressed the **Eject **button on the center console, the T-Car continuously swapping between Cyborg and Overload configurations as the later continued to incorporate himself into the car's systems, only for Vent to eject him a moment later, the cartridge the one part of the car he couldn't physically bypass. "That's enough!" Vent growled as he suddenly fisted half the cartridge when it came out, pulling back furiously as Overload tried to go back in, the car returning to Cyborg Configuration as the brunette pulled Overload out and leapt out the drivers side door, shucking the electrical being to the side who quickly collected himself and formed his electric body, the brunette placing himself between Overload and the car. "Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you behind that driver's seat," he growled as the electric monster tried to strafe around Vent and get back to the "safety" the T-Car offered.

"**Biological cannot defeat Overload. There no **_**water **_**near Overload,"** the monster growled, Vent's eyes narrowing as he placed his hands together, wind energy gathering into his palms.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he roared in defense of the T-Car as his technique began to take shape. _Rotation... Power... Shape... _he intoned as Overload came at him, a spiraling sphere like that of the Rasengan forming between his hands, the electrical monster preparing to strike before- _WIND! _the brunette roared to himself, silver protrusions resembling blades surrounding the spinning sphere in his hands, resembling a miniature fuuma shuriken as the brunette lunged at Overload in the Hadoken position. "FUUTON: RASENGAN!" he shouted driving the attack into Overload's stomach, the release of the compressed wind-based energy shearing the monster's ethereal body as a twister-shaped blast punched through him and nicked at the card-shaped circuit within, dropping it to the ground a moment later when the attack ended and the thing's body gave out.

"**Overload... over... loaded..."** Overload wheezed out as the eye-like circuit on his body closed, signalling his defeat.

"There..." Vent panted as he fell to his back. "Stick a fork in him... 'cause he's done," he sighed completely exhausted.

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, another patrol car came by to collect Gizmo and Overload, irony in the air as Cash and Sammy were <em>also <em>in the patrol car. Though the two latter snickered at prior, Gizmo responded with his own snarky quip, the now-powerless Overload being tossed haplessly into the back of the truck. Back at the now-restored T-Car, after making sure that his baby was okay, Cy ran over to Vent who at the moment was being helped up by Raven before-

"My baby! You saved my baby! I love you man!" Cy cried in joy as he suddenly ran up and hugged the teen, nearly snapping him in two as loud popping sounds rung through the air.

"Y-You're we-welcome..." Vent cried feeling his back about to break. _It would be a _real _dick move if I died right now, _he added as an afterthought as blackness crept around the corners of his vision.

"Cyborg, try not to break him. We just barely fixed his _brain _after BB broke _it_," Raven stated, referring to _Flame Alchemist Vent_. Star's Pudding of Sadness did the trick, and as it was revealed, didn't have an expiration date. Or at least not one any of _them _would live long enough to see.

"Oop. Sorry," Cy said putting the teen down, who wavered from side to side before he fell back, Raven moving to catch him only for the brunette to suddenly and _impossibly_ fall forward on his face.

_**Thud**_

"... Well. Let's go home," Cy stated as he carried Vent to the T-Car and put him in the back, Raven hopping into the seat on his left and fastened his seatbelt so he wouldn't fall out. "Alright boys and girls, next stop, Titans Tower!" _After I take the _long _way home of course. I _missed _my baby_, he thought with a wide grin as he pat the steering wheel. The T-Car pulling a 180 before driving down the road, Cy's right turn causing Vent to loll to the left and fall onto Raven's shoulder, his head resting next to hers. The mage was about to push him off, but suddenly froze when he began nuzzling into the crook of her neck as he slept, causing her to freeze up for the rest of the trip.

* * *

><p>The following evening back at the tower.<p>

"Hmmm... Shoot! Why do these things _always _have to be in French?" Vent asked looking at a set of instructions for the entertainment center he got to hold the TV, VCR, and DVD. Halfway home, which was actually in the midst of Titan City, while the others went back to Titans Tower, Vent was able to have Cy pull over to the mall and pick up an entertainment center for his appliances, as well as a trio of giant black beanbag chairs for his room.

"Hey Vent, can I come in?" Cy's voice asked from the hall as he rapped the door fiercely.

"Sure come on in," Vent returned. "I'm still trying to make heads or tails of this. Why are these things in every language _but _English?" he asked as Cy came up to him.

"Must be manufacturing or something," Cy stated. "Anyway, thanks again for saving my baby. It means a lot."

"It's cool," Vent returned. "Of course I'm _still_ expecting that hover board since you completely left me out of the T-Car's design plans," he added referring to the nonexistent sixth seat. "Aside from that, there's no rush."

"Right, right," Cy said scratching the back of his head as he looked around the room. "Well, looks like you have your own little _lounge _here. Me and the guys might have to drop _by_ sometime," he said with a grin. While the others rooms were more solo-fitted, Ventus' room seemed to be designed around having _friends _over, hence the mini bar in the side.

"As soon as I get this entertainment center, TV, VCR, and DVD set up, sure," Vent returned. "That guy seemed _very _happy after we stopped Overload without thousands of dollars worth of collateral damage. I just hope I can connect to the Tower's satellite uplink," he said looking around the wall for the TV jack.

"I can understand why," Cy returned. "How about I help you out with that? Then we can watch some TV."

"I'd appreciate the help," Vent said handing him the instructions. "You read French?"

_**... Beep **_"I do _now_," Cy said with a goofy grin, Vent laughing as he handed Cyborg the instructions, the two working on building the entertainment center to put the newly-acquired electronics on.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Digimon Frontier (Season 4; ¾ Kazemon's attacks). Do not own Lord of the Rings (quote). Do not own Naruto (Wind Release: Spiraling Sphere).**

**Author's Notes:  
>After seeing Overload "repair" the car by inserting himself into it, I figured there wouldn't be any reason for the T-Car to break own again if he was removed. Plus, that was an awesome car, and I thought it would be cool to save it in that context.<strong>


	14. Apprentice PT I

**Just a little heads-up before the chapter starts. When I eventually get to **_**Winner Take All **_**(or Episode 22) with the Master of Games (soon-to-be abbreviated MoG), if I can, I'd like to add onto the roster and add onto the "Tournament of Heroes" part of the story a little bit by adding some fresh blood to the little tourney. That means I'm looking for male teen heroes from the DC Comics Universe to add in (i.e. Blue Beetle). They don't necessarily need to be from Teen Titans, but can be in their early 20's in other DC storylines and be "fitted" into the Teen Titans Universe.**

**In addition, at the end of **_**Winner Take All**_**, the Master of Games makes a comeback, this time with the "Tournament of **_**Heroines**_**". If I can collect enough names, I'd like to make a "Tournament of Heroines" chapter too. I know Raven, Starfire, and Terra would have taken part, but there were other silhouettes behind them, so I'm also asking for teen heroines to add to the roster (i.e. Wonder Girl). Supergirl appearing is debatable since she's **_**in **_**her 20's (and may be somewhat overpowered), but I'm keeping my options open.**

**If you can think of a few names of teen male or female heroes, I'd appreciate them for later. With all that aside, please enjoy the chapter.**

**P.S.  
>If you can come up with any OCs that have reasonable powers andor backstories (no Gary Stu/Mary Sues), I'll also take those too, since I'd never heard of Wildabeast or Hot Spot before watching Teen Titans.**

* * *

><p>It was five in the morning. The group was snoring the night away, and would've <em>continued <em>to do so had it not been for the-

"Good morning, Teen Titans. I do hope I haven't woken you," Slade spoke to the team from the monitor in the living room.

"_*Yaaawn* _What are you, an insomniac? Who calls at five in the morning-" BB was about to ask before Raven elbowed him in the side.

"What do you want?" Robin demanded.

"Well, that's pre_cisely _what you've been trying to find out, isn't it? And in spite of all your efforts, you're still in the dark about my intentions," Slade stated. "Disappointing, Robin. I expected a little _more _from you."

"Like I care what you-"

"But since you've been unable to discover my plan, I suppose I'll just have to reveal it myself," Slade said interrupting Robin's sentence, the camera panning away from him, two Sladebots standing next to a large object covered in a tarp. "I'm sure you're all familiar with the concept of a chronoton detonator," he stated as the tarp was pulled away, a large egg-like piece of machinery covered in black plating with a few red lights set into its surface. The upper portion of it telescoped towards the ceiling, the inside revealed to show more lights.

"No!" Cy cried as Star gasped.

"Uh-oh," Raven gaped.

"No way!" Beast Boy cried. "Um, what's a crouton detonator?"

"A Chronoton Detonator eradicates all chronotons within a localized area, utterly destroying the temporal component of the space-time continuum," Vent explained with crossed arms as he leveled a glare at Slade, who if the others were watching would've seen he was glaring right back. At his statement, the green changeling could only dumbly ask- "Hmm?"

"It stops time. _Permanently_," Raven stated, causing BB to cry out and faint.

"If he triggers that thing downtown, it'll _freeze-frame _the entire city," Cy gaped.

"Tell me where!" Robin shouted pounding his hands on the console.

"You're a clever boy, Robin. I'm sure you and your little _friends _can figure it out," Slade said before pulling up a grey transmitter-like device. "However, since _I _control the detonation, time is _not _on your side," he said before the screen filled with static. Robin knew immediately that with Slade, he bounced _all _his transmissions off a dozen satellites before it reached its destination, so trying to trace it based on that would be no good.

"Fan out! Find it! Shut it down!" Robin said storming out, BB and Cy moving to block his path, Vent moving towards the console and making a subtle hand motion to Raven, the mage reading his thoughts _-metaphorically-_ and binding the teen's feet to the ground without him noticing.

"Hey uh, maybe you should stay here and coordinate the search," BB said nervously.

"What?" Robin growled.

"Man, when it comes to Slade, you've got issues," Cy stated twirling a finger around his temple in a classic "this guy has a screw loose" gesture. "Might be better for the team if you sit this one out."

"No. There's too much at stake for me to-"

"Robin..." Star said nervously. "We have not forgotten the last time you faced-"

"I made a mistake, Starfire. It won't happen again. I can handle it, I promise," he stated trying to move his feet from the floor, only to scowl at the mage for her supposed interference, the bluette giving him a flat look in return.

"Robin, do you at least want to _know _where to go?" Vent asked poignantly, rewinding the video sent and pausing when it showed the time-stopping weapon in question, a hazy letter-like image appearing when isolated. "Slade gave us more to go on than he realized." _Or maybe he _does_, _the brunette thought on the end. "It's here in the contours of the reflection."

"Ooh. Squiggly lines. _Real _informative," Beast Boy muttered. With a huff, Vent tapped a few more keys, refining the image before inverting it.

**PIER 41**

"You were _saying_?" Vent asked flatly.

"Heheh... Uh... Yeah..."

"Thought so," the aerokinetic returned as he got up from his seat and headed for the T-Car.

"How... did you know to do that?" Robin said as he and the others entered the elevator, Raven using her powers to get to the garage since with Vent, Rob, Cy, BB, and Star it was a tight fit.

"Heh, there's more to me than a goofy kid who can fly and wears open-toed sandals," Vent said with a smirk as he wiggled his toes, confounding Robin's assumption of who the brunette actually was even further. If that was possible.

* * *

><p>Arriving at the scene, Cy let his cannons to the talking for him by blowing the door off its railing, the group rushing inside with their own weapons in hand, only for the warehouse to be-<p>

"Empty?" Starfire cried.

"Oh man!" Cy groaned.

"I don't _believe _this!" Robin growled.

"Guys, we've got company," Vent stated motioning to the ceiling, a few dozen Sladebots appearing out of the shadows on the rafters. "Titans! Go!" the brunette shouted taking charge for once. However, Robin suddenly began moving so fast he was nearly everywhere at once, beating down the Sladebots leaving Cy to say- "Hey! _I _was gonna do that!" –Elsewhere, Star was about to fire her starbolts, only for Robin to wipe out the lot again. The things dog-pilled BB and forced him to the ground, only for the greenette to turn into a bull and buck them away, the changeling snorting like... a bull, ready to fight only for Robin to once more level the Sladebots. Raven was about to use her magic, having performed five sixths of her incantation before Robin once more began beating the Sladebots.

"And Robin's worried about _me _snapping any moment?" Vent asked as Robin began beating one of the remaining thing's metal skulls in with his staff. "Pheh. Hypocrite," he grunted as he continued recording. If Robin _did _snap, then this evidence may be the difference between him being let off with a warning and potentially hurting an innocent bystander, or being locked away until he got the help he needed. _Guy's too serious for his own good and may end up with a heart condition with all the hell he's putting himself through. Oh well. In the meantime if he gripes at _me _about snapping again, I'll just whip out Exhibit_ A _and _whammo_! Instant shut-up, _he thought as Robin _continued _beating the thing's skull in.

* * *

><p>"Okay. We <em>know <em>the chronoton detonator was here. Now we just have to figure out where it went," Cy said looking around.

"No problem. We should split up and-"

"-waste hours of searching only to come up empty-_handed_?" Raven asked scathingly.

"Well, when you say it like _that_," BB said nervously.

"Raven is right. We must find some way to track the device," Star said, Robin's brow cocking quizzically as the sound of footsteps reached his ears. In the distance, a man walking between two warehouses was minding his business before-

"Freeze!" he said taking off like a shot, the terrified man racing away before a birdarang embedded itself into th concrete in front of him, stopping his advance before he was thrown against the wall, Robin holding up the **S **insignia from one of the Sladebots. "Tell me _everything _you know about this!" he demanded, the man stuttering and mumbling inarticulately as the much-smaller-than-himself person held him off the ground. "Answer me! NOW!"

"I-I've never seen it before! I don't know anything! Honest!" the man cried before Raven's power yanked him away while Vent ushered the man off. Had he _really _known anything the guy wouldn't have even been _around_.

"You _said _you could handle it," Raven stated holding up.

"You promised," Star said worriedly as the mage released him when he calmed down.

"We're wasting time," Robin growled striding off.

"You know, just 'cause we're trying to catch Slade doesn't mean you have to _act _like him!" BB called out, Robin stopping mid-stride and whirling around at the changeling.

"Don't you _ever _compare me to him," Robin growled, Vent suddenly standing over him with arms crossed. What was most unsettling was that it wasn't the happy-go-lucky brunette standing there, but a perfect emulation of his own instructor, down to the emotionless expression.

"Robin. Let me tell you a _liiittle_ something I haven't said to anyone before for their own peace of mind," Vent said with narrowed eyes. "I was born and raised in Gotham. I've _seen _the scum of the Earth and how _far _people are willing to go for what they want, even for something so _trivial _as twenty_ bucks_. Hell, I had to watch a homeless man kill another over a wheel of cheese that some _douchebag_ threw between them for _laughs_ when I was _eleven_," he said, much to the other's shock and horror. "As far as _I _see, you can either _claim _you and Slade aren't alike, or you can start _acting _like it!" he finished with narrowed eyes, Slade's mask superimposing itself over Robin's face before he shook it off. "ALL of us know you want to stop Slade and save the city. We get that, but so far you aren't really helping your case by acting like a total _whackjob_."

"I AM working with everyone as a team!" Robin growled with narrowed eyes.

"Really Robin? _Really_?" Vent asked before pulling out the camcorder and flipping the screen to face him. "Cause as far as _I _see, you're not as team-_oriented _as you _claim _to be," he stated as the footage of Robin beating all the Sladebots by himself played. "Lastly. You think _I'm _on a hairpin trigger? Well just look at _this_," he said showing Robin beating the metallic face of a Sladebot in for an entire minute even after it had stopped moving. "Or maybe _this_," he said pulling up footage of Robin threatening the dock worker.

"You've been _videotaping _the whole time!" Robin growled.

"Well it's _kinda _hard to fight evil robots when you're _killing _them all!" Vent returned, only to look out the corner of his eye and see Starfire sneeze violently, sending a starbolt out from her nose and nearly vaporizing the team.

"Gesundheit," Raven stated as she readjusted her hood.

"Forgive me. I am allergic to metallic chromium. There must be a source near-" she said in a tone like she had hay fever, the girl getting ready to sneeze again. Bailing out, anyone who was watching would've seen a massive green mushroom cloud, much like the one from right before the Gordanian invasion started. When the smoke cleared, Robin rapelled down a wall he'd somehow used to climb out of the blast, Beast Boy poked out from behind a trashcan, and Raven pulling Vent out of a wall-mounted portal. "Sorry," she apologized once more.

"Interesting," Cy said looking at a graph readout on his arm.

"Not really," Star said as he sniffled and groaned a bit. "On my world, chromium allergies are quite common."

"No. The key component of a chronoton detonator is a metallic chromium core, which means-" he said closing his panel.

"Starfire can track it!" BB said with a wide grin, the Tamaranean girl tilting her head to the side and sniffling slightly.

"Hey Rae. Thanks for the save back there," Vent stated as he and the others walked forward, Raven nodding and accepting the thanks as they followed the group. Understandably, the two kept to the back, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Robin acting as their meat shields.

* * *

><p>A minute later, the team was drudging their way through the sewers, thankfully with only water as Star took point, her "sneezebolts" intensifying every so often. Leading the way, Robin was about to apologize for earlier, and was about to ask Vent if he really <em>did <em>see what he said he saw, only for Raven to point to a speedboat at the end of the tunnel, loaded with the Chronoton Detonator in the back. The group was about to take chase, but Cinderblock suddenly smashed through the wall and separated him from the others. After being ordered to get the detonator as he fought Cinderblock, the group flew down the tunnel after the speedboat.

"I will _not _be having attitude from a _boat_!" Cy growled out as the thing began firing a salvo of lasers at them, they cyborg blasting wildly as Star maneuvered around the salvo, finding that it was more difficult to maneuver around them carrying Cy's 400 lb bulk than on her own in Dr. Slim's simulation. Blasting the laser turrets off, while Cy and Star fought the two commandos, BB and Raven having been knocked back a bit by laser fire, Vent ran up to the control panel, only to find the buttons without label. Tapping a few keys at random, the only response he got was-

"Invalid code."

"In_valid _code this," Vent growled as he punched throught he console and yanked out some wiring, the boat slowing to a crawl as it came out into a large open space. The appropriate setting for where they would have to disarm the bomb.

"Uh... You _do _know how to stop this thing don't you?" Beast Boy asked shaking some sewer water out of his ear.

"How hard could it be?" Cy asked as Vent threw the control panel overboard, the cyborg reaching towards the device only for it to suddenly telescope upward, the red lights suddenly illuminating. "Ooh," he then said, realizing just how in over his head he actually was.

"Whatever we're going to do, we should to it before Slade decides to _trigger _this thing," Raven stated, Cy nodding as he reached toward the device once more, hoping he wouldn't accidentally set the damn thing off.

"Hold on," Vent said placing a hand on his wrist stopping him. "Cy, have you ever _actually _disarmed a bomb under pressure before?" he asked holding his arm back, the cyborg shaking his head causing Vent to sigh. "Stand still then and don't make any sudden movements," he said giving the robotic teen's hand a twist at the wrist, causing it to come off on a long metal connector like he had used to tie up Gizmo.

"How'd you know how to do that?" he asked before the teen pressed a button on the inside of his wrist, a small acetylene torch suddenly rising out of his hand's index finger. "How'd you know how to do _that_?" he then cried out as the brunette shut it off.

"When I got stuck in your body, I immediately knew how to use all your body's systems, both from within and without, or at least everything in there _up_ _to_ that point," he answered.

"Uh, what makes _you_ qualified to disarm this thing?" BB asked over the brunette's shoulder.

"I'll have you know I'm more qualified than _Cyborg _because I had to diffuse a _real _bomb when I was thirteen," the brunette stated.

"So wait, then you really _did _see two dudes... _*gulp*_ _kill _each other over a wheel of cheese when you were _eleven_?" BB asked with a gulp.

"You really... think I'd _JOKE _ABOUT THAT?" he said rounding on BB who reeled back in fright, the brunette visibly fighting back the tears that stung his eyes as the memory came back to the surface. Seeing that happen was one of the most traumatizing things he'd ever seen in his entire life, and the memory of it caused him to clutch at his head and whimper pitiably as he fell to his knees.

"It will be alright. We have _all _seen things we wish we had not," Star said putting a calming hand on his shoulder.

"_You've _never seen one human murder another before. Even after looking away, I could still hear it, and that's something that'll stay with me 'til the day I die..." Vent wheezed out, trying to shake the memory out of his mind.

"If Vent says he has more experience in this sort of thing, then maybe we should put our faith in him," Raven stated before turning to the others. "Our only _other _options are an alien girl who could set it off the next time she _sneezes_, a changeling who can't even set the _TV _right, and a guy who's completely in over his head," she stated pointing to Star, BB, and Cy respectively.

"Where does that put you?" BB asked, Star about to sneeze before Raven trapped her head in its own bubble, the girl's hair blown wildly out of place after the barely-holding energy bubble dissipated.

"_Star _detail," the mage stated evenly as Vent began removing the Chronoton Detonator's casing with a screwdriver that came out of Cy's pinkie.

"BB, I need you to be an octopus for when I unscrew the panel," Vent instructed, the changeling manually twisting the screws instead of using the electric screwdirver's tiny motor. That little jarring may accidentally set the thing off, or if anything else let Slade know it was in the process of beind disarmed.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Robin was in the middle of fighting Slade and was about to snatch the controller out of the spotlight it had been placed under, only for Slade to hit him broadside with a flying kick.<p>

"Come now, Robin. You'll have to do better than that. I haven't even broken a _sweat_," Slade stated condescendingly, then rushing and leaping at Robin before performing a backflip and leaping into a roundhouse kick that sent Robin reeling. Exchanging more blows only for them to be blocked, Slade then planted another steel boot across Robin's chest. Snarling in rage, the ex-sidekick tried to clear his head, the two sparring once more before he caught Robin's fist. "Good technique," he said before bending his arm at the elbow, the sound of bones grinding against one another as Robin yelled out in pain, the villain throwing Robin across the floor to slam into a wall. "Good, but not perfect," he then said as Robin woozily got to his feet, the teen screaming in pure fury before charing at Slade once more.

* * *

><p>"<em>Alright. The panel's off. BB, take it off with your suction cups,"<em> Vent stated after having unscrewed the four screws holding the thin metal plate in place. _"And remember, no sudden movements. This thing goes off and next thing we know we're 10,000 years in the future," _he whispered to the others. It didn't matter the distance, since if any of Star's _sneezebolts _went off, the Chronoton Detonator might go off anyway. Nodding in recognition, Octopus-BB placed a few of his tentacle's suction cups on the panel before lightly freeing it, then gently placing it on the floor before carefully returning to normal.

"_Vent, are you _sure _you know what you're doing?" _Cy asked, the group whispering out of fear of the thing going off by just that.

"_Why? Do you?" _he asked, the teen staying silent for a moment before he shook his head. _"Didn't think so," _Dead-Serious Vent said as he tapped a few buttons on the inside of Cy's wrist, the acetylene torch on the middle finger igniting as he looked at the core's inner mechanics. _The chromium core is held stable within the chamber until detonation. Eleven wires connect the core chamber to the device. Two on the top. Two on the left. One on the right. Six on the bottom. Based on the style alone, cutting five wires should be enough to disable the core, _he thought to himself as he analyzed the wirework both around and _behind _the core chamber. _"Cy. When I disarm the core, I need you to remove it with your free hand. Without it, this thing's nothing more than a giant paperweight, even if Slade _does _push the button," _he stated with no room for argument, as he got to work. The first he cut was the upper wire on the left side, the blue stabilizing energy over the red core fluctuating as it was before he cut the left wire on the upper part of the core chamber. He then clipped the one on the right, the remaining one on the left, and then lastly the one on the top. Seeing that the core was still fluctuating and had yet to deactivate, he noticed a small button placed between the fifth and sixth wires from the left on the bottom panel. Shutting off the acetylene torch, he pressed the button, the Chronoton Detonator's core slowly shutting down, the low whirring stopping until the core turned blue.

"_Holy crap... You actually did it," _Raven gawked, thinking the brunette had been all bravado back then.

"_Yeah..." _he said as his eyes glowed silver for a moment, a small breeze blowing across his sweating brow before he _slowly _inched backwards. _"Cy, don't reattach your right hand yet. Focus on removing the core, and whatever you do..." _he said nervously. _"Don't let it hit the ground…" _he squeaked weakly as though the results of such an action would be worse than the detonator going off, Raven squeezing his hand in reassurance as Cy reached towards the core.

* * *

><p>"Nanoscopic probes," Slade explained to Robin several minutes later, readouts showing Cyborg, Beast Boy, Ventus, Raven, and Starfire's vital signs, as well as live images of <strong>S<strong>-marked probes clinging to their body's cells. "The chronoton detonator was merely the bait for a much _larger _trap. You see with the push of a button-" he said as a push-button device extended from a brace on the inside of his wrist. "-my probes will destroy your friends from the _in_side out."

"You can't control them. No matter what you threaten, they'll never obey you," Robin growled while Slade paced around him.

"This isn't about your friends, Robin. It's about you. It's _always _been about you," Slade said cryptically.

"What?"

"Sending trouble your way. Leaving cryptic clues for you to unravel. I was _testing _you. For some time now, I have been searching for an apprentice. Someone to follow in my footsteps," he said with his arms crossed behind his back as he leaned toward Robin. "And Robin, I've chosen you. Congratulations."

No way would I _ever _work for-" was as far as Robin could go before Slade held up the trigger, shutting the teen up as his thumb just _barely _grazed the button.

"If you join me, if you swear to serve me, if you never speak to your friends again, I will allow them to live," he stated. "But... if you disobey even the smallest request, I will annihilate them, Robin, and I'll make you watch," he threatened. "So, do we have a deal?"

**To be continued...**


	15. Apprentice PT II

**Just a little update on the "Tournament of Heroes" & "Tournament of Heroines" front. One name has been added to the prior (Blue Beetle), and two names have been added to the latter (Artemis and Wondergirl). That's good, but I think we can all do better, so submit names and lots of them, please.**

**On a separate note, as for _Gui _who reviewed last time with an OC idea for the "Tournament of Heroes", there's no "Reply Address", so for anyone who wants to suggest _reasonable _OCs, I need a "Reply Address" in order to get enough details to make such a thing work. **

**With that announcement out of the way, let's start on with the chapter.**

* * *

><p>The previous evening, the Teen Titans had disarmed the Chronoton Detonator successfully, only for a beam-weapon of some sort to rise out of the ship's prow, strafing all five of them and knocking them overboard. Checking his systems, Cy confirmed that whatever the beam was supposed to do, didn't do it. However... things took a darker turn when the group was then unable to contact Robin, the area where he fought Cinderblock leaving no real clue as to who the winner was. All through the night as they made their way back to the tower, Starfire continued to try and contact Robin, only for all attempts to fail. Whenever anyone tried to call, Robin would not answer, and his tracking device would be cut off whenever they tried to track it.<p>

It was later that evening, Robin still not found, that an alarm went off in the tech district. The team immediately rushed to a highly-elevated research facility where an experimental new weapon had been stolen. The team chased the thief after he had escaped the security detail, running him to a dead end overlooking the city. However, when the cloud cover overhead cleared…

"That's not Slade, that's..."

"Robin," Star gaped, finishing Beast Boy's sentence.

"Whoa!" Cy gaped.

"Robin, why are you-" Star was about to ask, Robin throwing a metal flyer that exploded in her face and sent her flying back.

"Yo! What's your deal!" Cy demanded.

"Not a word, Robin. They're _not _your friends anymore," Slade said into Robin's ears through a pair of radio receivers. Wanting to get away, Robin then raised the blaster before firing it at the walkway between them, the resulting explosion bringing the walkway between them down, escaping into the smoke and out of his friend's reach.

_Vent, I know we aren't the best of friends, but please, take care of the team for me, _the Boy Wonder said to himself as he vanished into the night. Were he allowed some form of excess material, he could've tried to leave a message, but even if he _had _that luxury, to even attempt without careful planning would put the team in danger of being... annihilated.

* * *

><p>"Excellent, Robin. I'm impressed. You're already proving to be the perfect apprentice," Slade said walking towards Robin as he stood beneath a spotlight.<p>

"This deal can't last _forever_," Robin growled out.

"It can. And it _will_," Slade said with narrowed eyes, screens lighting up and filling with static before images of the decoy detonator appeared. "The Titans still have no idea that my chronoton detonator was more than a decoy for something even _more _menacing. Now that my probes are inside their bodies, they could remain undetected for years. _Decades _even," he said, Robin looking out of the corner of his eye, keeping them from widening in surprise when he saw that it was _Vent _who disarmed the detonator. "Unless of course, you disobey me, and I decide to destroy your _former _friends. With the push of a button," he said bringing up the trigger into view.

"Sooner or later, you'll let your guard down. I _will _get that controller, and the instant they're out of danger, you _will _pay," Robin growled.

"That sounds like a _threat_, young man," Slade said walking up to Robin and taking the blaster from his hand. "Quite a _good _threat actually. Betrayal, destruction, revenge. We really _do _think alike," he commented, the statement reminding him of how much Vent had spoken _at _him, his rage building before he threw himself at Slade, only for the man to grab his wrist and bend his arms back sharply. "I monitored your vital signs during the mission. Elevated heart rate, adrenaline, endorphins," he said as Robin continued to strain against his hold. "You won't admit it, but at some level, you _enjoyed _stealing for me. It was a thrill, wasn't it?" he said releasing him. "You're going to _keep _stealing, Robin," he said as he stood at his work table and removed the blaster muzzle. "You're going to _keep _getting that thrill, and sooner or later," he said putting the weapon back together in a new form. "You _will _see things my way," he said placing the blaster on Robin's arm. "Who knows? I might even become like a father to you."

"I already _have _a father," Robin growled, the flittering and tittering of bats above causing Slade to look up and think back to years ago. Back when he used to do jobs in Gotham when he was nothing more than a hired hitman, his family still intact. Of course that was then and this was now. He wasn't looking for family. Only for one to follow his legacy.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at the Tower, the group was trying to make sense about what had just happened. Like some anime-obsessed Otaku, Beast Boy suggested that there were only two logical explanations; The first was that Robin had been replaced by an evil robot double, or that he was a victim of "zombie mind control". Cyborg's scanners however confirmed Robin's biometrics and discredited the robot theory. Raven's powers on the other hand discredited his second theory after saying if something had been controlling his mind, she would've sensed it. The group had mostly confirmed that the person they fought on the roof was Robin before-<p>

"Lies!" Starfire cried. "That was _not _Robin! Your scanners are wrong! Robin is our friend, and nothing could _ever _make him betray us. Nothing..." she said sullenly.

"But something _did_," Raven stated.

"Yes... And unlike BB's _pothead _theories, mine is actually _credible_," Vent stated with crossed arms.

"Excuse me?" Beast Boy asked, Vent yanking the Sherlock Holmes hat off his head and kicking him to the side without a moment's warning, much like Robin had after pulling the changeling out of the subway's path.

"Robin and I are a lot alike. Same birth place, same friends, same reasons to fight," Vent said pacing around the room. "To Robin, his friends are the most important thing in his life. If Slade's found a way to _compromise _us somehow, then the idea that Robin is doing this of his own free will doesn't become that hard to believe. After all, if Robin were being a criminal on his own volition, he wouldn't be wearing that **S **over his heart now would he? That just proves Slade has something over his head. Or _ours_."

The next moment an alarm went off, the room glowing red as another silent alarm reached them.

"We'll have to look into your theory later," Cy stated. "It's him."

* * *

><p>At the Jump City branch of Wayne Enterprises, a large door was blown off its hinges, leading into a black room with large green circuit-like designs on the walls. Stepping forward to a containment field, Robin approached a black cylindrical object, spikes on each end, prongs on one, and red lights on the other. Whatever it was must either go with the Thermal Blaster stolen earlier, or have something to <em>do <em>with it.

"You're not walking out of here Robin," Cy growled as Robin reached for the device. "Not without a fight," he said as the others came up to him, Vent and Raven at his back while Star and BB stood by his sides. "Titans! Go!" he shouted as they rushed forward, BB transforming into a tiger and Cy rushing him, the spiky-haired teen simply dashing past the group and leaping at the ceiling, grabbed a pipe, kicked a ceiling grate in, then disappeared before anyone could react.

A minute later, Robin ran across the roof of the Wayne Enterprises building. He would've tried to get the device another time, hopefully when he didn't have to fight his friends, but-

"Not so fast, Robin. You have yet to achieve your objective."

"The device was too heavily guarded. I'll have to steal it another-"

"No!" he shouted causing Robin to stop. "Go back. Unless you want me to destroy them, go back and fight."

"Robin!" Cy called out, cutting their conversations short. "Look, I don't know what's going on, but we don't want to fight. We just want to talk."

Robin's response however was to let his _feet _do the talking, via high flying kick that knocked Cy back.

"Guess there's nothing to talk about," BB said cracking his knuckles and turning into a massive gorilla. Robin avoided the changeling's fists when they were brought down by leaping atop the WAYNE's **A**, then threw another Slade-themed device that wrapped around one of his thick wrists. Next moment the Boy Wonder dropped down through the **A**'s center, pulling taut and yanking Beast Boy halfway through with his upper body stuck.

"Robin, please-" was as far as Starfire got before the Boy Wonder rushed past her, leaping high and coming down with a flurry of kicks aimed at Raven, the mage creating shields to defend herself while Cy charged his cannon. However, the unease on his face betrayed his resolve to do what was right. The next moment, Vent suddenly got behind Robin and pulled him into a Full-Nelson, the smaller teen held in place as Raven realized what the brunette was doing and stepped back.

"Cy! Blast him!" Vent shouted as Robin continued to struggle. "Blast him before he- GOD DAMMIT!" he cried as the boy wonder hit him with the back of his head before throwing him over his shoulders, attempting a curb stomp for his own reasons instead of Slade's. At the same time in the big **A**, BB had changed into a python and extrapolated himself, then turned into a bighorn goat and sent the Boy Wonder rolling across the roof before he stopped short of his back.

"Dude! Are you okay?" BB asked rushing over to him, his answer coming in the form of Robin savagely kicking him into Cyborg, the two going down as Robin sat up.

"Fight to win, Robin. Use the thermal blaster. With Ventus on their side, it will be the only way you can win against the collective."

_The only way I can win? Then why didn't he have _Ventus _be his apprentice? _Robin asked himself.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven called out as a bubble of energy lifted him up, binding him from his knees to his neck, though his right arm remained free. Instead of using the blaster however, he threw a disk in her face, a blinding flash breaking her hold on him.

"Dammit! My _eyes_!" Raven cursed as she fell to the ground, Vent catching her and holding her hand as he set her to her feet.

"Welcome to the club," he grumbled. "Boy _Blunder _there blinded me too, so griping about it is understandable," he added, the Blunder part causing Robin to scowl visibly.

"Come on man, don't make me do this!" Cy said as Robin attacked him, easily blocking the teen's un-superpowered punches. "I don't _want _to do this!" he said grabbing his arm and getting ready to fire, only for a foot sweep to dump him on his back, the blast going off right before Robin leapt atop the sign's **A**. As the others got up, Robin ran to the big **E**, coming face to face with a supremely furious Starfire, starbolt prepped on her outstretched hand.

"Stop! Don't move," she ordered, the spiky-haired teen doing so.

"I thought I told you to use the blaster. Attack! NOW!" Slade ordered, raising his weapon at Starfire with the muzzle glowing red. As the two faced off one another, Star's expression icy while Robin's remained expressionless, both of them were bathed in the light of their own blaster's glare. Conflicting between friendship and duty, Star's eyes saddened.

"Robin, you are my best friend. I cannot live in a world where we must fight. If you are truly evil-" she said, her voice trembling as her arm dropped. "Then go ahead. Do what you must."

"Starfire, no, I-" Robin said lowering his blaster, a shrill shriek of feedback from his radio transceivers causing him to cringe visibly.

"ROBIN! I gave you an order. If you won't attack, my probes _will_," Slade said from his end of the line, pressing the button. A few seconds later, the team began to groan in agony, unable to move as their bodies erupted in pain, glowing orange with red spots with a white haze around them, the group slowly falling to their knees. Star was barely able to maintain afloat, and would've fallen had Robin not caught her.

"Starfire!" he cried out as the others began to collapse beneath him. "Stop! Please! Stop!" he pleaded, cursing that the others would not be able to hear him.

"Attack them Robin. It's the only way to save them," Slade said into his ear before-

"THIS is for all the SHIT you PUT me through!" Vent growled as he struck Robin in the face, gut, and side in succession sending him to the bottom of the sign, blood dripping out of his mouth as he forced his body to fight, dropping down and setting Star against the sign before rushing at the slightly-disoriented teen. "THIS is for thinking I was the only one who could SNAP!" he growled as he knocked Robin off his feet before using a double axe handle on his stomach . "And THIS is for-" was what he said before he got blasted back by the Thermal Blaster, Robin his _own _reason for blasting him and thankful that they complied with Slade's own.

* * *

><p>"Huh?" Starfire asked as she woke up, remembering that her body had erupted in the worst pain she'd ever felt before the smell of burning clothing stung her nose. Looking around, the now-fine Vent was laid out on his back, his hoodie and shirt blown off just short of his shoulders, the collar gone as the edges were still smoking. "Ventus!" she cried as she tried to wake him, the others slowly getting up on their own.<p>

"Okay. Weirdness. What just-" was as far as he got before a fresh thermal blast cut across them, Robin landing in the middle of them and flinging the changeling into the mage's face, low kicking Cyborg away as the mage and changeling were sent flying. Star attempted to fire at him, but froze up when Robin aimed his blaster at her. Instead however, he struck at the big **Y**, Raven forming a shield so the downed Vent wouldn't get hit while BB scampered away in monkey form. The next moment he skittered across Robin's arms and legs, a few moments he did so before Robin grabbed his tail and chucked him to the side. The next moment however the partially-topless Vent just came out of _nowhere _and almost decked him, the two fighting in an intense sparring match of kicks and punches.

"Hm. So even after taking a thermal blast point-blank he's still able to fight. Intriguing," Slade said unconsciously into Robin's ear as the two fought, the two then grabbing one another's wrists as they met in a stalemate.

"Hey. Not gonna lie. Dick move man. Dick move," Vent said as the two continued to fight, Robin not noticing the red glint on the teen's teeth before he suddenly coughed up a wad of blood onto his pointed domino mask, the spiky-haired teen stumbling back and trying to wipe it free before he felt someone grasp his right arm, then a kick to the sternum that sent him flying back. Wiping the coppery liquid off his face that was unconventionally used as a blinding device, his eyes widened as the brunette attached the Thermal Blaster to his arm with a click. "Heh. Look who's the megaman _now _bitch!" Vent said with a dark grin as he leveled the blaster at Robin, the end glowing red as he suddenly found himself on the edge of the roof. In response however, he whips out a handful of discs and throws them at the group, the group ducking out of the way of the projectiles, the explosions behind them detonating at the bases of the big **A** and **Y**.

"Titans! Move!" Cy called out when the two giant letters began toppling over, Raven about to squashed until Vent pulled her out of the way, Cy having the big A fall around him, while Star and BB flew out of the way. Looking back up, Robin had disappeared.

"He's gone," Raven stated, then noticed she was in Vent's arms, and while not outright pushing him away, she did step out of his arms, the teen blushing slightly.

"Everybody okay?" Cy asked before turning to Vent. Seeing his hoodie and shirt blown off, he must've been hit by a low-powered point-blank Thermal blast.

"I'm fine, and I got to return the favor," he chuckled, remembering the shocked look on Robin's face as he tried to wipe the fresh blood off his domino mask. While impractical, it served its purpose, and allowed him to retrieve the thermal blaster. _I might just keep this unless the owners ask for it back._

"Uh, I know where Robin picked up that heat ray, but where did he learn that little glowy hurty trick?" Beast Boy asked as his eyes briefly turned orange with red spots. On the sidelines, Vent wondered just _how_ BB did that.

"I do not think it was Robin," Star stated. "Perhaps it is _Slade _who has learned a new trick."

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in Slade's lair, he watched Robin fight off the Teen Titans, his lone eye narrowing a bit as Vent had turned the damage done from the Thermal Blaster into an unavoidable tool. Blinding an opponent with one's blood usually required you have some form of internal injury, but to use such a move effectively brought about untold levels of satisfaction. Especially when one was able to get a solid hit in they wouldn't have been able to otherwise as the enemy tried clearing their eyes.<p>

"Thrilling. My apprentice is progressing even _faster _than I had hoped. All he needed was a little motivation," he said before a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

"Motivate THIS!" Robin said before throwing a punch, only for Slade to easily catch it without flinching and wrenching it to the side, flinging Robin towards a set of overhead gears before coming down into a crouch across the floor.

"Robin," Slade said as he got up from the chair and flexed a handful of fingers. "That was vicious, dishonorable, and ruthless. Excellent work. You're becoming more like me every second," he said walking past the teen before stopping. "_Where _is the Thermal Blaster?" he then asked. He of course knew the answer, but while Robin knew the satisfaction of victory, to be beaten by the seemingly-nomadic brunette in open-toed sandals of all footwear would teach him the sting of defeat. Something you could only learn with experience.

"Ventus... Caught me off guard and took it," Robin answered, feeling sick to his stomach at the thought. All those years he'd been trained by Batman, and all of a sudden the guy with open-toed sandals starts kicking his butt. Just who _trained _the guy?

"Well, since he _is _one of the most... qualified_, _to face you in combat out of the others, it was to be ex_pected _that he would give you such a hard time," Slade stated, then whirled around at his opponent with a sudden string of blows.

* * *

><p>"You were right about earlier, Vent," Cy said after running every sort of scan <em>possible <em>on Beast Boy's body, who at the moment was wearing a _plethors _of monitoring equipment. "The enhanced sensors are picking up radio interference on the nanoscopic scale," he said typing on the computer, showing Slade's probes in detail as they remain attached to BB's cells.

"Woah."

"I knew it," Vent said adding to Raven's sentiment. Looking over his shoulder, BB visibly cringed at the sight.

"Those things are in_side _me? EWWW!"

"They're inside _all _of us. _Billions _of 'em!" Cy cried out.

"With such technology at his command, Slade can destroy us whenever he wants," Star gasped.

"Unless _Robin _does whatever he says," Raven said to her sentiment.

"Heh. And you guys thought my _zombie _idea was crazy," BB said with crossed arms.

"That's _still _crazy," Vent said pulling the helmet down over BB's face to shut him up.

"So... What do we do now?" Raven asked, despite the gravity of the situation smirking as the blinded Beast Boy fell over the side of the couch. Much like Vent had when _he _had been blinded.

"Heh. My getting close enough to him to _take_ this was more than to strip him of his deadly weapon," he said raising up the Thermal Blaster. He'd call the tech guys about it later. "After our first encounter, I went through Robin's stuff, as depraved as that sounds, and found a few tracers. _One_ of which I planted on him during the fight," he said raising his T-Communicator, the screen showing a blinking red dot. "Now come on guys. Let's get our friend home," he said with a smile that promised Slade a lot of pain later on, the team smiling more or less for the fact that now they could get Robin back.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Robin and Slade had continued to fight, their battle changing levels in the terrain as they fought both high and low, fists, feet, and staff attacks exchanged. While Slade had the advantage in terms of skill and strength, Robin had his smaller build and determination on his side, managing to drop Slade from the ceiling and then crack his mask. Removing the <strong>S <strong>insignia from his chest, the battle became a defensive one for Robin as Slade came at Robin harder than before.

"I have much to teach you. You have learned the thrill of victory and the sting of defeat. Now, you need to learn gratitude," he finished as he turned to the monitors with the nanoscopic probes, almost as if in mocking. Robin then yelled out in fury looking for another go, Slade simply grabbing his arm and bent it back past his shoulder cruelly before dumping him on his back. "I made you apprentice. All my knowledge, all my power, all for you," he said fisting Robin's hair. "But the only thing _you _care about, is your _worthless, _little, _friends_!" he growled as he pulled back, letting Robin go as he took a couple steps away. "If the Titans are so distracting, maybe I should just get rid of them," he said as casually as if he were looking at a wristwatch, bringing up the button and getting ready to activate the probes again. Robin steeled himself for the next round, but seeing the distance between them and realizing the difference in skill between them, his resolve _and _defiance dissolved.

"Don't. I'll do whatever you say," he sighed in defeat. _Vent. I can't believe I'm saying this, but it looks like _you'll _be in charge of the Teen Titans now._

"Good boy," Slade said. "Oh, and from now on, I'd like you to call me _Master._"

The next moment however, an air bullet suddenly blasted the side of his metal mask, sending him rolling to the side with a dulled point of metal directly jabbing his temple right. Looking up, the one-eyed man growled as the Teen Titans had suddenly stormed his lair. Looking back to Robin, he then noticed something he hadn't before. A red and yellow tracking device placed just beneath his shoulder blade. How he had missed that, he didn't know. Maybe because he was having too much fun. Something he'd have to... _alleviate_, later.

"Hey Candy-corn face!" Vent said blowing a wisp of off-silver smoke off his finger. "Back off, or we'll _kick _your ass!"

"Rrrrr... Robin! Attack!" Slade ordered as he tried to ignore the part of his mask poking his temple. More of an annoyance than anything else, he knew he'd have to replace his mask, since trying to bang the ding back out would leave it susceptible to further damage in the future.

"Guys! Get out of here! You don't know what those beams did to-" Robin said spotting the probe-dispenser-like device off to the side.

"Dude..."

"We know..."

"And we don't care," Beast Boy, Raven, and Cyborg all stated.

"We are your friends, Robin. We are not leaving without you," Star said, tensing for the battle as Slade got up.

"Yeah, so get up man. Let's kick his ass and go home," Vent said jabbing a finger over his shoulder.

"How very touching. Really," Slade said bringing his thumb up to the button. "However, Robin doesn't _need _any friends," he said bringing his thumb down, the devices within flaring violently as the five teens fell one by one. "This is the price for your disobedience, Robin. Now do as I command. Attack!" Slade demanded.

"Hey... Candy-corn... face..." Vent said through grit teeth forcing himself to his feet, catching the man _and _Robin's attention at the brunette's inhuman pain tolerance level. "Deal's over," he said extending his right hand and ready to snap, the man's eye widening before-

_**Snap**_

_**BLAM**_

"Aargh!" Slade cried as the device on his left hand was blown apart, the only thing to soften the blow and keep his hand intact being his nano-mesh armored jumpsuit. It was at that moment that the Titan's pain receded until it disappeared altogether, the device's hold on them cancelled along with the trigger. Before he could respond however, Robin suddenly decked him in his moment of shock, sending him back as he rubbed his sore knuckles, pretty sure he'd left another dent in Slade's mask.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as he stood with his friends. Back in good health, they all charged, Beast Boy rushing in first as a Pachycephalosaurus and rammed him in the gut with a devastating headbutt, powerful enough to break bone, but didn't since he was holding back all it did was cause him to cough up blood into his mask. The next moment Cyborg and Starfire blasted him full throttle and sent him rolling backward. As he did so, Raven cast a spell that bound his feet and slung him hard onto a platform. The next moment Ventus and Robin whirled around in opposite directions before kicking Slade on the sides of his head, causing his mask to crack and shatter entirely from the previous damage given, the only part staying on being the upper left half that hid the portion of his face, while the rest fell away. However, he kept his face, and identity, out of sight and light as he rushed to a piece of machinery in a dark corner.

"Another day, Titans," he growled as he slotted his fingers into the bores of the gear behind for a better grip, turning it causing the lights to turn red. "Another day," he said as he ran off, the place slowly falling apart.

* * *

><p>The escape from Slade's base was nothing fancy like in the movies, running out and leaping into the air before the place blew up. The underground chamber simply collapsed into itself, the group running like hell <em>–after Cy had grabbed the probing device- <em>before getting to a cleared area, Raven teleporting everyone back to the Tower at the first chance. Upon arriving back at the Tower, Cy rigged up a probe-removal device, tubes and cables connected to nearly every square inch of the Titans, mask included. Given that he'd fought the hardest while being probed, Vent was cleared first, then Starfire, Raven, Cyborg, and at the moment, Beast Boy.

"Am I done yet?" he asked in a muffled and annoyed tone.

"That's it y'all. The Teen Titans are officially probe-free," Cy announced, BB jumping out of his chair with assorted hardware still connected to his body as he began to dance.

"Go Beast Boy! You're probe-less! No probes now! Go Beast Boy! Go Beast Boy! Get fun-kay! Uh! Yeah! Uh, uh, that's right," he said as he began moonwalking back.

"Um... I know this isn't really my style, but we just _kicked _Slade's butt. Shouldn't we... celebrate or something?" Raven asked, Robin and Cyborg staring incredulously at her.

"Yeah!" BB whooped, leaning forward from Cy's back and staring him upside-down in the face.

"All-you-can-eat..."

"Free-form..."

"Breakfast ex_plosion_!" Cy finished as breakfast food began flying out behind them.

"Sorry I asked," Raven stated before she was suddenly hauled towards the kitchen, Vent following leaving Robin and Starfire at the couch.

"Everything okay?" Robin asked Star, as she could not raise her eyes to him.

"I am... sorry."

"_You're _sorry? For what?"

"When things were bad, there was a moment when I truly believed you were... like Slade. I doubted you. And for that, I am sorry."

"... I doubted myself, Star. Focused, serious, determined... As much as I hate to admit it, he and I _are _kind of alike. But there's one big difference between me and Slade," the Boy Wonder said with a smile. "He doesn't have any friends."

Back at the kitchen, Raven was irked as Cy and BB continued flinging food every which way.

"Who wants tofu waffles?" BB asked bringing a pair of the aforementioned waffles up, one arm a claw and the other a tentacle before-

"Beast Boy..." Vent said in a cold tone, a dark pressure weighing down on the changeling as Vent rose from the stool he was sitting on. "If you bring that tofu _anywhere _near me, I will destroy you, and I'll make you watch," he then threatened in a manner all-too-similar to Slade's to ignore. Or at least not pay attention to. "Who's in the mood for patty melts! I know _I _am!" he then said with a wide grin after pulling a 180 at the drop of a pin, rushing into the kitchen and the atmosphere suddenly brightening. Whether or not who Vent was, was an act to hide the pain of growing up in Gotham _–a fact the others were still trying to process-_, it didn't matter. What _did _was that the team was back together, and that nothing would split it apart ever again.

They hoped.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Megaman is owned by Capcom.**

**Author's Note:  
>When the episode played, all Slade had to do to turn the probes off was yank the controller off his arm. I don't think Vent cancelling it by <strong>_**blowing it up **_**is that much of a stretch in all honest opinion. Also, Robin's tracker had been shut down the entire episode, so I decided to make it so that Robin got a bug planted on them. Otherwise, it sorta seemed like the Teen Titans just **_**automatically **_**knew where to find Slade. Lastly, a Pachycephalosaurus is the one with a thick, dome-shaped skull that bash into one another during breeding season. It's basically the one that Cranidos/Rampardos are based off of.**


	16. Lost in the Anals of Time

**A little heads up on the "Tournament of Heroes/Heroines" front. Three new names have been entered, two to the prior, one to the latter. Static, Gear, and She-Bang from Static Shock have all been submitted by Raidentensho. That means for Heroes I have 12 (9 originally), and Heroines I have 8 (3 shown originally).**

**Also, for **_**Gui**_**, I'll use your OC idea for the "Tournament of Heroes" chapter, Crazy. Just don't be upset if I decide to put him in a straightcoat. Just saying. Also, for those who have suggestions or want to talk, doing so would be easier through a PM system instead of through updates. If you don't PM me, don't expect me to reply through chapters. It's simply too much trouble.**

**Anyway, enjoy the story. I think you'll notice the difference from the canon.**

* * *

><p>It was a bright sunny day, a few after Slade had gotten his butt kicked and the "all-you-can-eat free-form breakfast explosion" afterwards. Things had begun to settle down, and aside from Vent having to return the Thermal Blaster, which he really wanted to convert into some kind of "buster", things were looking up. It was at that very morning that Starfire had been long awaiting, the day of-<p>

"HAPPY BLORTHOG!" Star cheered coming into the door, an armload of varying objects of alien origin jingling in her arms. "Huh?" she asked in surprise. Raven was off to the side reading, Robin had a boom box blaring in his ears, Beast Boy and Cyborg were having a game of tug-and-war over a game controller, and Vent was floating outside the window with his arms crossed and playing his SP away from the others. Even from that angle she could tell he was scowling, and was most likely trying to tune out the others.

"Come on Beast Boy, gimme that thing!" Cy growled gripping the controller.

"Dude! I'm in the midde of a _game, _Cyborg!"

"Yeah, my game, 'cause it's _my _turn!"

"Gimme that controller!"

"No! Let go!"

"It's my turn!"

"Friends! We must frolic and leap in glorious celebration, for today is Blorthog- The Tamaranean festival of friendship!" Star cheered exhuberantly, Vent looking over his shoulder in time to see roses bloom around her, an eyebrow raised at the display. That moment however was cut short at the sound of a car wreck, realizing that no one was paying attention. Disgruntled, she dropped the items she had carried in, except for a few strands of jingling bells that hung on her wrists. "Joyous greeting, friend! I, Starfire, give you this tinnabula as a symbol of-" she said trying to put the tinnabula on Cy's neck, only for him to be yanked away by Octopus-Beast Boy.

"You're gonna _pay _for that you little grass stain!" he growled as he and the changeling fought once more, only for BB to hop away as a bullfrog with the 360 controller in his mouth.

"Many blessings, friend. May your ears be filled with sugar candies and-"

"BEAST BOY!" Cy roared out interrupting her.

"Look! I'll give you back the controller as soon as _Raven _gives me back my nail clippers!"

"_Not _gonna happen," Raven said holding the aforementioned clippers in the air with her powers as she read. "How else am I supposed to keep your toenails off the coffee table?"

"Happiness and delight, friend. On this wondrous day I wish you sunshine and bunny-" Star began saying, only for Raven to give off the _subtle _hint that she wanted to be left alone.

"Robin, could the music be a little louder? I can still hear myself think," Raven grumbled.

"I only turned the music up to DROWN OUT ALL THE YELLING!" Robin growled out, and from Vent's perspective, it looked like his head swelled, his shouting blowing Star's head back. Rubbing his eyes and making sure it wasn't too early, he now saw Star standing before a red backdrop holding her bells, Robin's throbbing head at the upper left while Raven's was on the opposite, "chibi" BB running by with the controller while "chibi" Cy followed.

_O... kay... That's odd, _he thought seeing "chibi" Cy holding BB in a headlock, Robin breathing fire and the group held in general discord. A few moments later however, when the tinnabula in Star's hands broke...

"STTTTTOOOOOPPPPP!" she roared causing everyone to stop. "Friends must _never _behave this way- and especially not on Blorthog! Do you wish to invite the Rekmas?"

"Gesundheit?" BB asked.

"In Star's world, "Rekmas" means "the Drifting"," Vent said leaning against the counter with crossed arms, having remembered a talk they had before they officially _became _the Teen Titans. "It's the point where close friends begin to drift apart, and their friendship... begins to die," he said remorsefullyfrom closed eyes, feeling the others drift away from him. Much like in the first episode of Yu-Gi-Oh when Yugi's deck began to drift away from his hand and into the darkness.

"Aw come on, Starfire," Cy said waving his hands.

"We are _so _not Rek-whatever-ing," BB stated, though his previous actions didn't really help that argument.

"We're getting on each other's nerves a little. Big deal," Raven stated.

"Yeah. This is just typical roommate stuff. We're not going to drift apart, Star. I promise. We'll all be friends forever," Robin stated.

"Forever?" Star asked worriedly, though with a hint of hope in it.

"But how long _is _forever, Robin?" Vent asked in a condescending tone that reminded Robin too much of Slade's for his liking. Before he could counter however, the T-Comm. went off in his hands.

"Titans! Trouble!" Robin said leading the others off, Star and Vent remaining where they stood before the prior flew off after as few seconds. Looking to the pile of stuff on the ground, Vent saw one of the tinnabula, this one still intact. With a sigh, he reached down before stuffing it into his pocket.

_I _really _hope what I think is about to happen doesn't, _Vent sighed as he ran off after the others, tightening the straps on his sandals. God above knew he may need it.

* * *

><p>A quick ride later, and the team had arrived at a museum in Jump. In it on display were ticking clocks from different historical periods. Arriving, the Titans found museum security frozen solid in their own blocks of ice, a man in black armor with gold reinforcement on his wrists, ankles, chest, and head having done the deed.<p>

"The Clock of Eternity," he said after having put the two on ice. "Valuable in the past, _priceless _in the future," he said as he reached for it, only for his hand to be knocked away by one of Robin's throwing discs.

"But for the present, you'll be keeping your filthy hands off of it," Robin said as he and the others came down.

"The Teen Titans. This _is _a treat," he said as a laser shooter folded out of each shoulder. "I've read all _about _you in the historical archives. And now you're all _history_," he said as he opened fire.

"Titans! Go!" Robin called out as the group bolted in a heartbeat. With a shout, Warp began firing on Robin who was parrying the salvo with his fighting staff, doing so with ease until the last one broke his weapon in half. Star quickly flew in to take his place in the fight followed by Lion-BB, the Tamaranean firing a pair of beams that carved long double groves across the floor, only for Warp to deflect them causing one to ricochet at her and knock her out of the sky. Lion-BB then rushed him from the side, the gold-armored criminal raising his right hand, an hourglass-shaped blaster folding out and electrocuting BB in the air.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven intoned as she sent two grandfather clocks at him, only for a blue force field to rise up and push them back, a blue psi-beam flying from the lens on his forehead and knocking him out of the air. From the side, Cy fired his sonic cannon and nailed the guy dead on, raising a cloud of dust.

"Boo-yah!... Huh?" he asked as he saw the smoke clear, the time-traveling thief protected by a force field that absorbed the damage, leaving him unharmed. The next moment he threw a kitchen timer-like disc through the air, nailing Cy on the chest right before the pointer hit the 12 o'clock position, sparks flying across every part of his bionic body. "Draining... my... power cell!" he cried as he fell to his knees.

"You cannot defeat Warp. I am from the future," he said as though he were some absolute authority, raising a throwing disc. Across the gallery, Robin threw a handful of his own, only for Warp's weapon to smash cleanly through his, exploding when it hit the far wall. "And you _relics _are one _hundred _years _out-_of-date," he stated as he reached into the glass case, his hand passing through it before-

"Out-of-date _this _you-" Vent growled as he flew at the guy, pushing off the wall with the force of a cannonball before Warp put his middle and index fingers to his temples, the white lens on his forehead flashing brightly. "Gah!" he cried as he fell out of the air and tumbled across the ground. "Why? Why do they _always _go for the eyes!" the brunette cried as he held his eyes, Warp once more reaching through the glass and plucking the Clock of Eternity from its confines.

"Ta-ta, Titans. I have enjoyed our time together, but I've got a very _bright _future ahead of me," he said stepping over the downed brunette and towards his black temporal portal. As he was walking in however, Star roared in fury before flying straight at him while he had one foot out of the door. "What?" he gaped before she plowed into him, the portal winking out once they were through, Robin just _barely _missing it.

"Starfire!" Robin called out.

* * *

><p>"Let go!" Warp cried as he and Star tumbled through a monochrome realm filled with ticking clocks, the two struggling with Warp losing.<p>

"You have en_dangered _my friends and ruined Blorthog!" she growled with eyes glowing green.

"Stop! If you damage the suit before we reach my future- No!" Warp cried as Star ripped the central disc off his chest armor, banishing him to the darkness before a bright flash of light dropped her out of the sky. Landing in something cold and white, she looked up to see that it was nighttime, bitter cold whistling over the landscape.

"Huh? What happened?" Star asked looking around. "Why is it cold? And where are my... friends?" she gaped as she looked up, a ruined Titans Tower with the windows broken and the lights off looming over her, the entire thing in an advanced state of disrepair.

* * *

><p>"Friends? Hello? Friends? Hello!" Star called out as she ascended the Tower heights, a hole smashed through the ceiling of the living room allowing snow to accumulate in the darkened room. Looking out the window, she saw that all of Jump was covered in dark clouds, the world now cold and dark, not something she was comfortable with. As these thoughts echoed through her head, she looked down and saw one of the bells from her tinnabula on the floor. Picking it up, the thing crumpled in her palm. "What has happened?" she asked as a wayward wind sent the metal dust flying out of her hand. Looking off to the side, she then spotted a red light glowing in the darkness as the whirring of machinery was heard. "Cyborg!" she gasped as she raised a glowing hand to shed some light. "Oh, Cyborg, thank goodness you are-" she said before a mechanical spider-like thing with Cy's "body style" came into view. "Eek!" she cried as she launched a starbolt at it, the energy attack blasting through it before several more came at her, all of which were blasted.<p>

"Yo!" a familiar yet-older voice called out, a familiar silhouette with a pipe in hand stepping out of the light. "Who's up here blasing my... Star?" he asked completely dumbfounded, the bludgeon sliding from his fingers and clattering to the floor, the _aged _cyborg looking her over head to toe. "Starfire. I don't believe it. You... You haven't aged a day."

"Cyborg, what happened? Why are... you..." Star asked, seeing his right leg had been replaced with random components, while his _organic _ones had aged greatly.

"Old?" he smiled gently as he crossed the operations center. "Well, that's what _happens _to folks when you go away for twenty years."

"Twenty _years_?" she gaped.

"You disappeared Star," he said sliding some junk aside. "That battle with Warp, that was a long time ago. You fell through a wormhole and..." he said as he looked out the cracked window and looked across the frozen bay, the skyline of Jump City huddled under both a blanket of snow and cruel sky. "Welcome to the future," he sighed, disappointed in the sight that greeted him.

"The future? But..." she said removing the lens from the belt and holding it up. "... I damaged his technology," she said holding it out, which Cy looked over.

"Warp was planning to jump ahead one hundred years, right? Looks like you stopped him at twenty," he said handing it back to her.

"Still, I am confused. Please, why are you in disrepair?" she asked causing him to look at himself, the cyborg turning away as he went to the counter and opened a drawer.

"Let's just say things... haven't gone so well since you left..." he said holding up a very worn, very old Red GBA SP. One that belonged to a good friend and was given to him shortly after Star disappeared. Or at least shortly in comparison.

"But what of the other Titans? Where are our friends?" Star asked.

"The Titans are history, Star. Your friends aren't _friends _anymore."

"No. You are wrong," Star gaped. "This... Everything is wrong! How could such horrible things..." she said before looking down at the lens in her hand. "Warp! His interference in the past must have changed out future."

"Star, I don't think-"

"He has caused all this badness to happen. He made this technology, and he is the one who can make things right!" she said flying over to him. "We must find Warp. You will help me?"

"I wish I could," he said looking over to the side, something akin to a gasoline-powered electric generator hooked up to it, the wires in his back hooked up to it. "My last power cell burned out years ago. I've tried adapting this new stuff to my old circuits, but... I can't leave the Tower, Star. I'm obsolete," he sighed, seeing how far he had fallen making him only sadder, so far from his prime when he was the most advanced thing out there. Now there were _microwaves _more advanced than him. "Maybe some of the others can help."

* * *

><p><strong>Flashback<strong>

"I can tell you how to find BB and Raven,"Cy's had told her before she left.

"And Robin?"

"We lost touch a long time ago. If you're looking for him... you're on your own," Cy answered, Star heading for the door to leave before suddenly stopping.

"Wait. What about Ventus?" she asked, the Cyborg flinching visibly, looking to the aged memento in his hand. "Where is Ventus? I wish to see if he is alright as well."

"Ventus... He..." Cyborg said before pausing. "Robin told me... he died a long time ago," he answered, Star gasping loudly at the news with her hands over her mouth.

"What? _Died_? Who has done this? Who has killed Ventus?" Star demanded, tears threatening to sting from her eyes. If there was anything that Tamaraneans feared, it was the deaths of their friends. It meant that your friendship with that person had come to an end, and could never be recovered. Were it of natural causes, it wouldn't be as bad, but for a friend to be _killed _was the worst pain a Tamaranean could ever feel. Friendships were precious, and having a friend killed was like having that friendship _taken _from you.

"... Slade," he answered, causing Star to gasp. "Or at least as far as _I _know, but Robin wouldn't give the full story. It's for the best anyway. If he told me _how _it happened, it would probably tear me up inside. Tear _all _of us up inside," he sighed looking down at the memento one more time. Vent had loved hand-held video games above all else, and even with all the new console systems and games out there, he continued to play it even when it was obsolete. Gave him a little something to keep him going, as well as some small form of entertainment in his isolation.

"I... I see..." Star said, feeling her heart breaking at the thought of losing a friend for good. "I... I will be going now," she said heading out the door.

**Flashback End**

"Friend Ventus... I am... sorry," Star sighed to herself a minute later as she flew out the tower towards the city to the two areas that Cy told her about. Before she could fly too far into the city however, her Centauri Moon Diamond green eyes suddenly caught sight of a blue and white piece of cloth fluttering in the wind atop a high building. Stopping mid-air, she whirled around expecting to see Ventus standing there, a smile on his face as he waved to her like he _always _would. However, it was not to be so. Instead of Ventus, it was a _Sladebot_, his scarf around its neck with the ends fluttering in the breeze. "You! Why do you have that?" Star demanded, the thing not giving an answer but running off.

Chasing after, the robot led her on a wild goose chase all across the city, never going in a straight line for too long before getting to the edge of town, past the chemical plant where they first faced Plasmus to a large steel wall with a stylized **S **in graffiti on the wall. Arriving at the wall, the Sladebot stopped just short of the wall, its hand removing a panel from the wall and tapping a few keys before a section of the wall moved back before parting to the sides, revealing an entranceway. Its job done, the Sladebot then walked in as though it _wasn't _about to be smashed by the Tamaranean for wearing her friend's scarf around its neck without knowing what it represented.

"... Slade," Star growled lowly as she saw the stylized S, entering the lion's den and snatching Ventus' memento off the walking Sladebot as she passed, the construct seeming not to care as she made her way down the hallway. Before she could kick the door open, it seemingly opened by its own. _Slade... Of course you'd expect me, _she growled to herself as she walked further in. As she did so, overhanging lights went off over pedestals around her, illuminating various trophies that she did and didn't recognize; on one was Gizmo's backpack, Mumbo's magic hat, Dr. Light's suit but with holes punched through it, the pyrokinetic Pyro's goggles, a canister of burgundy-colored slime, a large chunk of concrete, a demonic remote, a card-shaped circuitboard with a large crack running down the middle, and many others she didn't recognize. "These things... Are they... trophies?"

"Hello Starfire. It has been a while," a voice suddenly said, Starfire gasping as a spotlight went off down the darkened room, revealing a gear-shaped throne, and sitting upon it.

"Slade..." she growled lowly. Twenty years and he hadn't changed in the least, except for his mask which had _two _eyeholes, his eyes now glowing red behind it. "Cyborg has _told _me what you did," Star growled in her throat as she stomped toward his throne. "He has told me that because of you, my friend Ventus is GONE!" she roared as her starbolts ignited and her eyes glowed brightly, intent on vaporizing Slade where he sat. It may've taken the team everything they had to stop him last time, but he was twenty years aged while she was still rested and not aged even a day. She could take him if she put her mind to it. "I will make you PAY for what you have done!"

"Really now?" the two-eyed Slade asked. "Then _do_ tell me. Who told _Cyborg _that?"

"Robin! _He _told Cyborg... who told me..." she began to trail off. "What does that have to do with it?" she demanded, the man raising his hand to his face.

"Starfire, you should know by now, _every _story..." Slade said pulling his mask off. "Has _two_ sides to it," he said as the mask came down, tanned features, crimson eyes, and brown hair greeting the Tamaranean girl, causing her to gasp.

"Friend Ventus, you are without harm!" she squealed in joy as she flew at him intent on hugging him, only to seemingly pass over some invisible barrier she shouldn't have without knowing so, reeling back when pink energy projectiles and kunai suddenly flew at her from the shadows barring her path. At the moment she saw two pairs of eyes reflecting the light from behind the throne, their owners stepping towards her, she raised her guard at the gleam of energy and the glint of metal that became visible. However, Ventus raised a hand and waved them back, the two seeming to look at one another before disappearing into the shadows.

"Starfire, I'd say you haven't aged a day in twenty years, though I suppose for _you_, the passing of time was instantaneous," the now-revealed Ventus stated with crossed arms.

"Oh friend Ventus, it is most joyous to see that you are alive and well!" Starfire squealed, though was hesitant on trying to hug him, especially with the two mysterious figures hidden in the background ready to lash out at her at a moment's notice. "But wait... Robin said you had died..."

"Oh really now? Is _that _what he told you?" Ventus asked with a chuckle. "Starfire, walk with me. Ladies," he said looking over his shoulder. "Return to your quarters until called," he stated, the two in the shadows bowing reluctantly before disappearing. "You must be curious as to what had happened since you disappeared twenty years ago," he then stated, leading Starfire through and around the pedestals spread throughout the room. "While the Teen Titans fought together for a time after you left, eventually, the team split apart. The Rekmas if your words were correct," he said thinking back to the soft jingle of the tinnabulas. One that seemed to grow weaker and weaker as time went on.

"But _why _did the Titans split up like they did?" Starfire asked.

"Starfire, you look for a reason _outside _your line of sight for why the group would split up, when _really_, you should be looking... to yourself," he then said as the two stepped in front of a mirror.

"Me? Why me?" Starfire asked as she stood before the reflection, noting that Ventus now stood a head over her, whereas before it was the other way around.

"Starfire, allow me to tell you a little story. Twenty years, three months, and eighteen days ago, an alien race known as the Gordanians invaded Jump City looking for an escaped prisoner who had landed in one of the plazas. That escaped prisoner wrought much destruction, the carnage drawing five figures towards it," Ventus narrated. "After a wind-user _freed _the alien prisoner, the group later learned that the escaped prisoner was to be treated as a _slave _for the Gordanians. After hearing that story, the six individuals ceased to be... but instead, became a _team_. However..." he trailed off, Star following the story with a child-like curiosity. "Three months and eighteen days _after _the Gordanian invasion, that escaped prisoner disappeared, and the _team_, lost the unifying force that first brought them together. Something that _normally_, they wouldn't have been able to do on their own. Tell me Starfire, do you know who that escaped prisoner was?" he asked. After not receiving an answer, he simply sighed before saying- "That escaped prisoner, the one who brought the five individuals together, was _you_?" he stated, Star visibly gaping.

"Me? But I am only... _me_. How can I have such a profound effect on five other people?" she asked in shock.

"Sometime being your_self_ is all it takes," Ventus answered as he headed back to his throne, Starfire following him like a lost puppy, or a lifeline. "By being yourself, you were able to bring a sidekick looking to go solo, a changeling who wanted to prove his individual worth, a mage who wanted nothing to do with the world, a cyborg who wanted to _hide_ from the world that would reject him, and a wandering free spirit together under a common goal. To help _another _wandering soul, like themselves. However with you gone, the Teen Titans lost the cornerstone of their friendship," he said returning to the throne. "As it seemed, the time of the Teen Titans was destined to _end _when you vanished from it."

"Time... That's it!" she said pulling what she did _not _know to be the Vortex Regulator form her belt. "We can use this to send me back! To fix history and _prevent _this travesty!"

"I am sorry Starfire, but if you are looking for help, you will find none here," Ventus answered resting his chin on his hands.

"What?... But why?"

"To _Robin_, I am nothing but a painful reminder of his past. A part of his life he wishes he could forget, but can_not_," Ventus answered. "I cannot move to help Cyborg because Robin would halt all attempts to do so in the belief that I would later subjugate him as my... _deceased_, mentor would. With him unable to leave the tower, and _me _unable to act without apparent consequence, there are only three others who may be able to help you. Beast Boy, Raven, and Robin himself."

"So you know where they are? Then tell me, _how_ are they now?" she asked.

"... I am afraid that is something you will have to determine for yourself," Ventus stated re-donning his mask, much to Star's shock as his voice became like Slade's. "Go to the coordinates that Cyborg had given you. Beast Boy and Raven should be easy enough to find."

"And Robin?" she asked.

"Will most likely find you," he returned, Star's gaze falling as she left. When she turned around to try and speak with him, he cut her off. "I am sorry Starfire, but even if I wanted to, my help would no longer be appreciated. All I can do is wish you luck," he answered, the girl nodding sadly and heading out. "Wait," he then said, the girl's hopes raised only to see that he had remained on his throne. "Do not tell the others about me. They have been led to believe that I died years ago. If they were to find out that I still lived, but was unable to contact them, it would only drive the team further apart," he requested. "Please... for their own sakes."

"Oh..." Starfire said crestfallen. "Very well. I shall... keep our meeting a secret," she sighed as she ran her fingers along the scarf that she had subconsciously put around her neck, fighting back the tears as she left at the thought of leaving her friend behind.

Little did she know, she'd feel this same emotion twice more.

* * *

><p>As it turned out, she <em>did <em>have to leave two more friends behind. Beast Boy had tried going solo and had gotten his butt kicked, _a lot_, before selling himself out as a sideshow, hiding in a cage because he was too cowardly to fight for himself anymore. Raven had found a home in a ruined insane asylum, completely devoid of emotions and having cut herself off from the outside world. What stood out though was that neither Beast Boy nor Raven noticed the distinct hand-knit scarf around her neck. It had been hard, but she told neither of them about her meeting with Ventus. Those trophies looked like the culmination of many years work, and with many more hidden in the shadows, so she could only wonder what kind of life Ventus had lead after the Rekmas.

All and all, she noticed that Jump City had gone, in Vent's words, "straight to _hell_". Everything was covered in snow, the cloud covering seemed unending, and unless she traveled twenty years _and _nine months into the future and _winter_, Global Warming must've "bitch slapped the planet" as Vent had once put it. The two had had a little chat about "curse/swear words" before Titans Tower was built, and while the words had a certain... "kick" to them, she wasn't comfortable using them. At least not openly. She was representing her _race _after all, even if the people of Earth did or didn't know it.

At the moment, she was plodding through the snow-covered street, her feet digging trenches in the seemingly-endless ankle-deep snow, the only real comfort she had at the moment being the flame-patterned scarf around her neck. Looking around, she saw just how far Jump had fallen, even lower than _Gotham_, and that was _saying _something. With four down, she was trying to think of a way to find Robin when a laser blast suddenly knocked her backwards.

"What's the matter, dear? Have I come at a bad time?" Warp said from a ledge above, his face aged past two decades by whatever her actions had done. Not waiting for an answer, he fired a salvo of lasers, the Tamaranean flew past him and over the buildings, returning with her own salvo of shots only for them to be stopped with his force field. Leveling with him and getting ready to nail him with a massive starbolt, the man waved his left hand and encased her in ice. Dropping to the street however, the layer frozen over her shattered, leaving her groaning and twitching in the crater of snow. Stepping down, the time-traveling criminal was placed on the end of an angry glare, only for it to dissolve once Star saw how old he had become.

"You have also become old," she said in bewilderment.

"That's what _happens _when someone steals my Vortex Regulator," he said motioning to the empty slot on his chest before holding out his chest. "The Regulator, if you please. I really _must _get back to my future," he requested, Star getting to her feet and removing the lens-like device from her belt.

"If you _ever _wish to see your future-" she said menacingly as she warmed up a starbolt, "-you will _repair _the damage you have done to my past!"

"Damage? Silly girl. There's nothing _wrong _with your past. One cannot _change _history, because history cannot be _changed_," he said as he held up the Clock of Eternity. "I went back in time to steal this because history says it disappeared. And _history _says it disappeared because I went back to steal it. Past, present, future. It's all written in stone, my dear," he explained as the minute hand ticked forward to **12:00**. "And _nothing _you do can ever change it," he said raising his right arm and extended his blaster, and would've fired had a shadowed, long-haired silhouette not flown in and kicked him into a dark alley. The figure then produced a few throwing discs before launching them at Warp, the fireball engulfing the time traveler, the thrower running straight toward the blast zone for a jump. When the flame and smoke cleared, Warp had once again shielded himself in a force field, looking up to see the new figure descending straight towards him. "Another time perhaps," the time-traveling criminal said as he phased down into the ground, the figure landing on the ground and pounding it with his fist. Cautiously moving into the alley, while the figure wasn't recognizable, the voice _was_.

"It's good to see you again," the shadowed figure said, causing Star's eyes to pop.

"Robin?" she asked in shock.

"I haven't used that name in a _long _time," he said advancing into the light, revealing a skintight black jumpsuit with a blue hawk emblazoned on the chest, a matching eye mask angled to cover his nose, his hair going down past his shoulders. "Call me Nightwing."

* * *

><p>A short trip later through the back roads, Robin, or rather <em>Nightwing<em>, had led Starfire to a dark cave on the edge of the city. There was a large bank of computers and control panels on one side of the room, a chair in the front, and two cylindrical storage containers across the room. There were walkways bisecting the area, and though she didn't know it, the place resembled Batman's Bat Cave. Looking in one of them, she saw the Robin outfit set up on a store-window dummy for display purposes. Sighing as she wrapped her arms around her midriff for warmth, Nightwing placed a blanket over her shoulders.

"I heard you've been looking for help," he stated, then noticed something was off. "Starfire... Where did you get that scarf?" Nightwing then asked, having noticed the _addition _to her attire. At first he thought it was just something she found to ward off the cold, or maybe Cyborg had given it to her, but he quickly recognized the white flame-like ends that were unmistakable.

"... Ventus used it to bring me to him. He... told me that were it not for me in the first place, the Teen Titans would not have come together," Starfire sighed.

"Ventus... Just because the team breaks apart, the guy goes and becomes Slade's apprentice," the man growled pounding his fist on the terminal.

"Robi- I mean, Nightwing, I do not think that is being very fair to him," Starfire said, causing him to look up. "You _too _were Slade's apprentice, but it was because of your friends that you were able to leave. Ventus however... Everyone split up, and he _lost _all that he had gained. I would think that... had Slade taken _drastic_ actions, you would have re_mained _as his apprentice," she said defending her friend, Nightwing sighing and rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"It doesn't matter anymore. It's all in the past," he said taking a few calming breaths, not liking being reminded of _'the one that got away'_. "I kept this around, just in case," he said as a portion of the console folded away, revealing a T-Comm. in pristine condition. "Come on, let's get the team back together."

"But Warp said that nothing can be done. That the past cannot be repaired, the future cannot be altered," Star stated remorsely.

"So it's impossible?" he asked as he took the controller in hand. "Good. If memory serves, we've _done _the impossible before," he said as he pressed a button, the T flashing red. A few seconds later, her face practically lit up when the black stones on her neck piece and wrist guards began blinking red, similar to an emergency signal.

Elsewhere across the city, Beast Boy's belt buckle began to flash, drawing his attention from bouncing a ball on his nose. At the same time in the white room, still facing the wall she had before, the brooch from her neck began to blink red. Meanwhile at the Tower, Cyborg was sitting in the Ops Center, his thumbs tapping on Vent's old SP, and as he was just about to defeat Dark Elpizo for the hundredth time, when his occular implant began to flicker red. Getting up to respond to the call, the cables on his back pulled taut to stop him, causing him to look over his shoulder to the power source that anchored him to the place.

* * *

><p>"Master," a kunoichi wearing a cat-like mask stated from her station. "We have a confirmed signal. From <em>five <em>Titans," she stated, her monitor showing two blinking lights right next to each other, one at the Tower, one at the carnival grounds, and the last one at the ruined insane asylum.

"Should we intercept?" a pink-haired woman in a black and blue-trimmed jumpsuit asked, pink energy dancing effortlessly across her fingertips like water.

"No," Ventus said looking to one of the trophy mounts, the decommissioned T-Communicator staring intently at him from its mount, the one part of his past he kept even after becoming Slade's apprentice, up until his death. "This... is something I have to do on my own," he said rising from his throne and moving towards the exit.

"You really care about them, don't you?" the pink-haired woman asked.

"... They were my best friends, and I should've tried harder to keep them together," he said as he cracked his neck, shoulders, and knuckles, the kunoichi and pink-haired women following him out. "That's in the past though. I won't let Warp separate us even further."

"Even though you're too old to be a _Teen _Titan?" the kunoichi quipped.

"Did... Did you just make a _joke_?" the pink-haired woman asked incredulously, Ventus blowing some dust off a skull-themed motorcycle before taking off into the city, leaving the two to their own devices. Were it not for the company he currently carried, he may've just been some Deathstroke _clone_.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere at the former museum, now the Metro Art Technologies building, while the two armed guards stood frozen, now among computer equipment, Warp stood at the end, a portable acetylene torch in his hand as he worked to repair his armor. At the moment, he was placing the last seam weld onto the Vortex Regulator to his armor.<p>

"Just a few seconds and I'll finally-" he said almost done, only for a short staff to fly into view and strike the tool out of his hand. Looking up, he saw the short staff return to Nightwing's hand, Star beside him with starbolts ready in both hands.

"The future will have to wait. You just ran out of time," Nightwing said as the staff returned to his hand. With a frustrated growl, Warp raised his two laser cannons, the two heroes diving away from the blasts. Nightwing threw a handful of discs at him while Star launched a powerful starbolt at him, a cloud of dust rising when the two hit the ground only for Warp to have blocked via forcefield again. Star fired another shot and it was ricocheted, this time _dodging _it when it was deflected. Nightwing on the other hand rushed through Warp's laser blasts, leaping through the salvo and bringing his staff down into the right one, shattering it. Warp turned around to fire a shot from his remaining laser cannon, only for a starbolt from behind to bowl him over. Quickly firing his remaining cannon at Starfire, she leapt out of the way before turning his attention back to Nightwing, who was jumping in again with an overhead staff strike that _just _missed. When the time-jumping thief launched another salvo of lasers at him, Nightwing was able to deflect the blasts away from him without his weapon breaking, Warp then being forced to deflect the strikes with his force field, the attacks coming from everywhere at once before a final roundhouse sent him flying. The villain, however, just grinds and adjusts the aim on his working laser to fire at the ceiling above Star, dumping a pile of snow and rubble on top of her. "Star!" Nightwing cried before being blasted away. Running back to his welding torch, Warp began to repair it once more, only for the concussive force of a blue, white-ringed sonic blast to hit him squarely in the chest and send him flying behind a cabinet. Starfire looking up in confusion as Nightwing helped dig her out, was shocked, yet happy to see Cy's body lit up with the same light his body had given off before, blue replacing all the dull gray components of his body.

"Boo-yah," Cy said with a grin as he lowered his arm.

"Cyborg! You are repaired!" Starfire cried as she flew over to him.

"Glad you could make it," Nightwing said, happy to see his old friend.

"Wouldn't have missed it. Now who said y'all could start without me?" he asked.

"So sorry. Perhaps I should finish you first!" he said holding up another timer-like device that he had used to drain Cyborg's power cell back in the day, only for a lion's roar to accompany the massive green feline that bore down on him and raked his claws across the time-jumping criminal's armor, sparks flying across it. Warp raised his blaster at him like before, but Ravens suddenly exerted themselves over his hand, then his body, flinging him into the far wall of the museum. Looking up, the others could only look up in awe as Raven's "soul self" materialized from the floor, the black silhouette swirling as Raven came into view.

"Nobody... hurts my friends," she said joining the Titans. At the same time, Beast Boy resumed human form and saw Nightwing's full head of hair, then rubbed his own scalp enviously.

"Dude, that is _so _unfair," Beast Boy groaned.

"Well y'all. Looks like the team's back together," Cy smiled, only for his shoulders to slump when he saw that they were one short, the absence now evident. "Vent... We'll make things right man. I promise," he said as he looked to the side, a transparent image of Vent in his "First Attire" waving back at him with an ear-to-ear smile like the open-toed goofball he was, the other Titans taking notice of Vent's absence as well with their expressions saddening, while Nightwing tried not to look guilty in that regard.

"It seems my time has come," Warp said as he formed another portal. "While the aging of twenty years is... cumbersome, it's nothing I won't be able to afford fixing once I sell _this _chronological marvel," he said holding the Clock of Eternity up to the partially-reformed Titans tauntingly, the others getting ready to fight before a skylight was blown and a figure dropped down with a heavy thud right between Warp and the portal.

"Hi there. Mind if I cut in?" the Slade-like figure asked before decking Warp, his punch rolling from the shoulder and sending him flying back to the others.

"Slade!" Cyborg gasped before priming his sonic cannon at the man, Raven gathering dark energy around herself and chanting, Beast Boy transformed into a velociraptor intent on tearing the man to shreds, and Nightwing about to act before-

"Stop! Please! This is not Slade!" Star cried out as she ran up to him and tore his mask free of his face. "It is-"

"Vent?" Rae, BB, and Cy gasped as though they'd just seen a ghost _-or had been slapped across the face with a trout-_, while Night remained silent as the brown hair, tanned features, brown-hair, and crimson eyes coming into view.

"Hello everyone..." Ventus stated, having not seen the others in years. "Raven, lovely as ever I see," he complimented, the mage feeling her face heat up in what felt like an eternity, and noting that it felt _good _after so many years of self-imposed isolation. "Beast Boy, _you've _certainly put on a few pounds," he stated in a joking matter, the changeling huffing at the statement. "Cyborg, glad to see you out of the Tower," he stated before turning to Nightwing. "_Robin_, it's been a while," he stated scathingly, getting a scowl in return.

"It's _Nightwing_," he huffed in disagreement. Much like he would've when they were still teens.

"Hey, I came back to help little Star get back home. Isn't that good enough for you?" he asked placing a hand on her shoulder before he heard a groaning sound from below. Looking down, Warp was about to get up, only for Slade to suddenly swoop down and deck the man across the face with an audible crack, knocking the man out again. "Now then, shall we send our friend home?" he then asked yanking the lens off Warp's chest. "Cyborg, your technology should be able to link with this, despite being 80 years out of date. Think you can you do it?" he asked tossing the device to the cyborg.

"I can..." he stated as he took the device and mounted it on his sonic cannon, several connectors linking to it. "But you _and _Robin have a lot of explaining to do when Star is sent home," he said in an angry tone, though was just glad Vent _wasn't _dead. Even if that information came a decade or so late.

"If our timeline still _exists_ when she gets home, then yes, both I _and _Robin will explain. _Right _ol' buddy o _pal_ of mine?" Ventus asked with emphasis nudging Nightwing in the ribs with his elbow. "Starfire, if it isn't too much trouble..." he said taking out a folded piece of paper form his belt. "Could you give this to my younger self for me?" he asked holding it out to her. "I think it'll make a real _difference_. If you catch my drift," he chuckled with a youthful exhuberance he thought he would never get to use again.

"Hold on, wouldn't that be messing with the timeline?" Beast Boy asked.

"Do you _want _to stay bald?" he asked Beast Boy. "Do you _want _to stay 20 years out of date?" he asked Cyborg. "Do you _still... _want to be alone?" he asked Raven sadly, earning shook heads from all three, the latter doing so with more emotion. "No? Alright then. Let's send our golden girl home with message in tow," he said with a wide smile.

"But what about Warp?" Cyborg asked pointing to the man on the floor.

"We don't let him hamper our progress," Ventus stated cryptically, yanking Warp's left gauntlet off his arm before strapping it onto his own and clenching his fist, his eyes taking in every detail down to the last grove and curve.

"And how do you intend to do that?" Nightwing asked with crossed arms.

"We don't let him to hamper our progress," he repeated cryptically, kicking the man onto his back, who looked up at his attacker only to be caught mid-scream as he was suddenly frozen solid by his own gauntlet with a wave of Vent's hand, the others gaping at the drastic actions. Well, everyone except Raven anyway while Beast Boy only said _"Dude."_ "When you get back, hand this to Wayne Enterprises. They'll be able to get _these _two off ice," he said motioning to the two officers as he passed Star the gauntlet, who even after 20 years were _still _frozen by Warp's original assault. "Be sure that they destroy this after doing so though. Humanity is a century too young for this kind of thing to be running around, I'd like to at _least _limit the pollution we cause to the timestream."

"Alright, then I will," Starfire said as he stood back, Cy powering up his sonic cannon and firing its energy through the Vortex Regulator, the beam firing into the wormhole and redirecting it.

"Starfire," Nightwing then said as he handed her the Clock of Eternity. "Good luck," he said, the girl nodding in return as she slid the letter into her belt and took the clock in arm before leaping through the wormhole.

Or would've had Vent not stopped her at the last second.

"One last thing. Kinda have to prevent _this _from coming into contact with its original," Ventus said uncoiling his scarf from around her neck. "Wouldn't want the universe to ex_plode _would we?" he chuckled, Star smiling as she stepped into the portal.

"Good luck my friends. I... wish you all a happy Blorthog," the Tamaranean said with a smile and tears on her face as she stepped through. Once the portal closed behind her, Raven flew over and pulled Vent into a crushing hug, his death having been one of the contributing factors to her self-imposed exile. While Ventus rubbed the back of his head nervously, the others stared at him incredulously while Nightwing crossed his arms, knowing he'd be in the doghouse for a while.

"So... Twenty years, huh guys?" he asked placing a hand on Raven's back, the others nodding. "How about we meet up at the Tower. For old-time's sake?" he suggested, the others nodding after a few seconds, heading off to what would _hopefully _be a brighter future.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, twenty years and a few hours earlier...<p>

"Ta-ta, Titans. I have enjoyed our time together, but I've got a very _bright _future ahead of me," he said stepping over the downed brunette and towards his black temporal portal. As he was walking in however, Star roared in fury before flying straight at him while he had one foot out of the door. "What?" he gaped before she plowed into him, the portal winking out once they were through, Robin just _barely _missing it.

"Starfire!" Robin called out.

"Um, where did she-" Beast Boy stated before a second flash opened up across from the first one, dumping Starfire out in a huddled, kneeling position.

"Whoa!" Cy gaped.

"Star! What happened?" Robin asked as the wormhole closed.

"History said it disappeared," Star said before straightening up, showing the Clock intact. "But _history _was _wrong_!"

* * *

><p>"Then Nightwing handed me the Clock, Ventus took his scarf back, and I entered the vortex," Star stated after regaling in the somewhat <em>horrifying <em>alternate future.

"Whoa," Raven gaped this time, looking up at Vent who chuckled nervously at _his _part in the tale.

"Bald?" BB cried in shock. "You're telling me I'm going to be _bald_?" he whined as he ripped most of his hair out, that being the only thing _he _got out of Star's tale.

"Guess you were right about all that Rekmas stuff," Cy sighed.

"I don't want us to drift apart. Does it all have to happen? Isn't there anything we can-" Robin said addressing the more important issues first.

"Our friendship has already changed Warp's past. I believe it can also change our future," Star said with a smile.

"So..." Raven said as the tinnabulas scattered across the floor were repaired by her magic. "Is it to late to do this festival-of-friendship thing?"

"Oh it's _never _too late!" Star cheered ecstatically, eyes wide and full of happiness with an ear-to-ear grin threatening to tear her face in twain.

"HAPPY BLORTHOG!" Cy cheered in Raven's ear, causing her bells to jingle.

"I thought it was "Blort-hog"," Beast Boy stated.

"Okay, I feel like a wind chime," Raven stated, a ghost of a smile on her face, if only just that.

"Well I think you make a very _nice _wind chime," Vent said with a smile, Raven nodding in return as she pulled him into a quick hug much to his surprise, then detached herself immediately much to his confusion. Hearing about his supposed death hit her a little harder than the others.

"I don't want you... dying on me, you hear?" she asked.

"Yeah, I hear," Vent chuckled as he took his tinnabula from his pocket and slipped it on. "How do I look?" he said floating a few inches above the ground and spun around, causing the string of bells to jingle.

"Heheh. Like a wind chime," Raven returned.

"So... Nightwing, huh?" Robin asked cocking an eyebrow to Star after she slipped his tinnabula around his neck.

* * *

><p>A few hours later after Blorthog, while the majority of the group had stuck together, Raven and Vent eventually broke away. While they left in opposite directions, they ended up on the roof around the same time, so lost in their own thoughts that they didn't notice the other's presence before they actually <em>did <em>notice one another's presence after ten minutes. It was a bit awkward for the both of them, but eventually they started up a conversation.

"So... What was in the letter your _future _self gave you?" Raven asked, wondering what was on the white piece of paper Star handed the aerokinetic from her belt.

"At the bottom was a _technique_ I never would've thought of trying," Vent said looking out into the distance. "As for what was above, well... It was a little... strange. And cryptic too," he said offhandedly.

"_Really_?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what did it say?"

"One of the key lines said that if I ever ran into your father, that I should give him a good ass kicking," he answered.

"Oh... I see," she returned, realizing that something in fact _was _missing from the future Star went to. However, if completely shutting herself off and being labeled as insane would stop a far worse fate... She'd explore other options.

"Hey Rae?"

"Yeah?"

"When Star told us about our alternate selves, you seemed... troubled by what she told us about _you_."

"Well _you _would be too if you were told in the future you would be in an insane asylum and had completely shut yourself off from others."

"Yeah, that'd be a bit frightening."

"What about _you_ though? Aren't you worried about your alternate self having become Slade's apprentice, and then becoming like the man himself?"

"Like Star said, I only went to Slade _after_ the team split up. Robin might not trust me for a while, but he's been Slade's apprentice too, if not for a time, so I think he'll avoid mentioning that," he answered. "... Raven, would it be selfish for me to _not _want you to turn out like your alternate future self?" he asked turning to her.

"I don't think so. After all, by telling us about the future, we can change it," Raven said in reference to Star's potential ill omen. "We _got _the Clock of Eternity back, so it proves history isn't set in stone. It may be stubborn, but it can still be moved."

"That's good... Because I don't want you to end up alone and isolated," he returned with a smile. "Raven?" he then asked when she leaned on his shoulder.

"Don't talk. Just sit. Enjoy the moment," Raven stated as she closed her eyes, the brunette nodding his head as he stayed as he was.

_I won't let Raven end up alone, I won't let the Teen Titans split up, and I won't let Slade win, _Vent told himself as he looked off into the sunset. _Not if _I _have anything to say about it._

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! (reference). Do not own Red vs Blue (quote).**

**Author's Note:  
>Well, the opening of Season 2, and it's been done. Tell me what you think. Your input is very important to the creative process.<strong>


	17. Terra Firma: Terra's Appearance

**For the "Tournament of Heroines" front, **_**Gui**_** has suggested Batgirl and Jinx be added to the roster, the latter being there for the same reason Gizmo was in the "Heroes" tournament.**

**Also, for the episode where Control Freak takes control of the TV world (Episode 40, AKA "Episode 257-494"), I am also looking for suggestions for shows that the Titans/Control Freak may visit, so feel free to add suggestions about those too. They basically have to be TV shows currently running on TV, regardless of age.**

* * *

><p>It was early morning, and long-range sensors detected a moving source of miniscule tremors heading towards the city. Taking the majority of the trip with the T-Car's all-terrain jets, Hamster-BB sitting in one of the cupholders so everyone would actually have a seat, the team made their way to the outlands to the southwest of Jump, the entire region a vast, rocky wasteland. The man feature was a canyon, that had once been a river in ancient times, large outcroppings jutting upwards on either side of the canyon. Climbing atop a large rock structure, Robin and Cyborg brought out a pair of long-range binoculars to peer at the dust cloud approaching jump. Peering to the forefront was a giant, no, <em>massive <em>black-armored scorpion. Obviously mutant in origin _-since an "all-organic" scorpion of that size wouldn't be able to sustain its weight or even _move_-_, the person it was chasing then drew their attention.

The girl had long, straight blond hair, large light blue eyes, and a very thin frame, her arms and legs along the lines of _spindly_. She wore denim shorts, a light gray long-sleeved shirt, and a dark grey crop top with black sleeves. She wore a silver butterfly-shaped hair clip over her right ear, blue-lens goggles around her neck, brown leather gloves, and matching hiking boots. She seemed normal enough, so Robin was trying to figure out what the girl did to piss that thing-

"Let me see!" Vent said excitedly as he yanked the binoculars out of Robin's hands, the strap around his neck pulled taught as the brunette looked through the binoculars before his expression froze, then suddenly brightened. "Holy shit I _know _her!" he said affixing his goggles to his face before he ran forward and leapt off the rock formation, falling a few meters and collecting spheres of wind at the bottoms of his feet, a veil of wind around his waist before a cyclone formed over his lower body, shooting him forward much like how Zephyr had before. "I'm a comin'!" he called out into the canyon as he cupped his hands around his mouth.

At the same time in the canyon, the blond girl looked over her shoulder as she ran, her eyes widened in fear as the giant scorpion clacked its mandibles together in anticipation of its meal.

"Why do you want to eat me _anyway_?" the girl cried. "I'm nothing but skin and bones!" she said hoping to deter it with _that, _then remembering how self-conscious she was about the whole thing.

The thing's response however was to lash its tail out at her, the stinger coming down inches from her causing her to be thrown off balance. Skidding to a stop and rubbing her head, her eyes widened as she saw her hair clip had been knocked off, but returned to normal when she saw it on the ground nearby. Reaching for it, the enormous stinger nearly came down on her, so the girl had to leave it behind. The next moment a brown and silver blur shot past her before it impacted the thing's face, causing it to stagger a second as the flying figure flew over its head, a hand grabbing its tail and whirling around a few times before shooting off next to her.

"Terr! It's great to see you!" Vent said flying alongside her.

"Ven? What're _you _doing out here?" the blond girl asked in surprise, surprising the others that watched since Vent _knew _the girl.

"Talk later! For now Terra, let's _dust_ this bitch!" he said as he let his feet slide across the ground, the blond girl named _Terra_ stopping with a smirk on her face.

As the scorpion monster approached, the girl's hands and eyes began glowing yellow while a strong wind began to spiral around Ventus as his eyes glowed silver. The next moment with a mighty yell, the girl threw her hands together from the sides, pulling large chunks of rocks out of the wall beside her and breaking them down as she clenched her fists. At the same time was spiraling his arms drawing wind energy to them before he threw his right fist forward, a column of wind catching the girl's manipulated earth and sending it forward like a machine gun. Tearing chunks out of the wall while the other launched them at the scorpion, the two smirked to one another as the thing was steadily forced back, not liking having its face pelted by rocks shot at gale-force speed. Looking up, the two then smirked again when they saw the creature was now standing in the shadow of a large rock formation, which jutted into the sky just beside the canyon.

"Hey Terra, let's show this this guy our Earth Crusher Combo!" Ventus whooped.

"Oh man, I _love _that one. But how're we going to separate that rock? That's too big for me," the blond stated pointed to the rock formation above. In response, the brunette raised a hand into the air, wind coalescing above his palm before it formed a silver disk with a thin razor's edge.

"Destructo… DISK!" he shouted as he threw his arm outwards and upwards. As the spinning disk flew through the air, it veered to the side before going through the rock formation at an odd angle, the formation sliding off to the side revealing a clean cut. As it was sliding down, the blond-haired girl's hands and eyes then glowed even brighter before she gave a mighty heave, the hundred-ton boulder being heaved to the side before coming down on top of the scorpion creature, kicking up a massive cloud of smoke. When the dust settled, the scorpion's tail flailed about not caught under the rubble, but soon feel slack, signifying that the battle was over.

"Ven, it's great to _see _you!" the girl cheered as she leapt at Vent a moment later, wrapping her arms around his neck and giggling as the two spun around, the others coming up beside them at that very moment.

"Wait a moment, you _know _this girl?" Robin asked in shock, still trying to get over the shock of what he's just seen. Not even five seconds into meeting up and already the two display a level of teamwork not seen yet between the Titans themselves. Sure they could work together, but they hadn't combined their respective abilities to such effect before. Just attacked a single guy at the same time.

"Guys, this is my good friend Terra. We met up a couple years ago when our powers were still developing, and she was a big part of helping me learn to control mine," he said proudly with a hand on the blond's shoulder as he introduced the girl to the team.

"Aw c'mon Ven, you're embarrassing me," Terra said blushing slightly, the two's closeness raising Rae's ire a bit, though she squashed it down so she wouldn't cause a landslide. "But hey, I'm guessing these are the Teen Titans huh?" she then asked.

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Vent asked.

"Well, when I heard there was an _airbender _in Jump City, I thought maybe you'd settled down, so I decided to pay you a visit," the blond said scratching her cheek. "Of course I didn't expect to be… heheh, followed," she said motioning to the pile of rubble behind her. It was at this moment that Vent suddenly put his hands on the thin girl's shoulders and looked her dead in the eye, realization showing on his face.

"Terra! On your way here, were you approached by a red-haired man with a scar across his body?" he asked worriedly, the team slightly cringing at the memory of Pyro during Fire's attack on the city.

"No. Was I supposed to?" she asked with her head cocked to the side.

"Phew. Thank goodness," the brunette sighed in return, the girl tilting her head to the other side and expecting some answers. "I'll explain later, but for the time being, it's great _seeing _you again. You've gotten taller. Oh, and you let your hair grow out too. It looks nice," he noted.

"Th-Thanks Ven," Terra returned twirling some of her hair on her finger at the compliment

"Though I see you're still thin as a twig," he chuckled under his breath, trying not so much as to offend the girl but just thinking out loud.

"H-Hey wait! I'm not _thin_! Just _lithe_!" she argued.

"Why's she calling you _Ven_?" Robin asked.

"It's our own little _pet names _for each other," the blond answered with a smile. "I call him Ven, and he calls me Terr. We may've only hung out for a few weeks, but we're each other's best friends."

"Actually, Vent now has _six _best friends," Raven stated with a ghost of a smile. "Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and myself," she stated with a bit of a smirk, spotting the emotion that flittered across the blond's vision for a second before she shook it off.

"Well… Vent _is _a very friendly person," the blond said brushing her hair behind her right ear, only to suddenly panic and start looking around, her eyes going to the ground as she ran around desperately.

"Terr, what's wrong?" Vent asked he said as he tried to follow the girl's gaze.

"My butterfly barrette!" she panicked as she ran back to where she'd lost it. "I lost it during the chase! I have to get it back!"

"It's just a _barrette_. I'm sure there are a _million _of them out there," Raven stated simply as she and the others followed after the two.

"It isn't _just _a barrette. Ven… gave it to me the last time we saw each other," she said bashfully.

"Sentimental value, huh?" Cy asked. He could understand the feeling. Like when the person who re-built him had difficulty accepting why Cy wanted his biceps incorporated into his design.

"The _most_," Terra returned.

"Alright, we'll help you find it if it's that important to you," Robin said as they followed the blond down the canyon a few meters, not noticing a portion of the rock face crashing to the bottom on its own volition. Little did they also know, that they were being watched by a man who was once again looking for an apprentice.

* * *

><p>The group searched the canyon for a good half our, and in that time, the group got to know Terra a little bit better after introductions were exchanged. Something shocking was that Terra actually found Beast Boy "hilarious", after he fumbled over himself near-constantly trying to say his own name and ended up transforming into a turtle. Almost immediately after BB stopped fumbling over himself, Star asked Terra where she came from, how she got there, what her favorite color was, and if she wished to be her friend. Her answers were Earth, walked, red, and "sure", the girl bear-hugging her as a result. After straightening her arms out, BB asked what brought "such a cool little chickie" to Jump, the <em>geokinetic <em>answering that it had been years since she and Vent last saw one another, and after hearing about "The Airbender of Jump", she thought maybe the two would be able to see one another again. It was after this that the group found out she was living in a cave, and aghast, Starfire was _adamant _about the blond staying with them. The group promptly agreeing, Robin's a bit more sullenly than the others, they went back to searching for what would be called "Ven's Memento" if this were a quest or sidequest in a videogame.

When the group gave up on looking for the barrette, the blond's shoulders slumped, but _Ven _put a hand on her shoulder and said he'd just have to get her a _new _memento. While it wasn't a true replacement, the original clip having had a lot of sentimental value to the girl, her expression brightened, and together the group headed back to the Tower.

Getting back, the blond could only gape at the accommodations, as well as the stellar view. BB tried to offer her the grand tour, but Terra's eyes suddenly bugged out, a crazed look on her face when she asked for food. Twenty minutes later, and the Titan's kitchen was loaded with dirty dishes, the girl having eaten a cyborg-course meal given how much food she ate despite her "lithe" frame. Upon heartily devouring Starfire's homemade glorg, the others sans Ven warning her against it since Ven was eating just as much beside her, the blond noted that it tasted like sushi mixed with ice cream. Asking for more, Star then rushed off to- "cultivate the fungus".

"So, where's the tub?" she then asked.

"Well…" Vent said in response to her questions, the others not knowing what to say until the aerokinetic decided to speak up. "Cy doesn't bathe, Raven doesn't let anyone in her room, Beast Boy's bathroom is hidden under piles of petrified underwear and dirty socks, Robin won't let anyone but _him _use his bathroom, and Starfire is currently cultivating the fungus," he then explained, Beast Boy sulking at what the brunette had said about his room and how it reflected on him. "I… guess you could use mine," he said bashfully.

* * *

><p>"So… The two of you know each other huh?" Beast Boy asked as he, Cy, and Vent watched a movie on the TV while Terra bathed. Apparently, she was going for the "full scrub", since she had been in there for <em>more <em>than a half hour.

"Yeah. It was shortly after I…" Vent said trying to find the right words as he snapped his fingers a few times. "I guess '_started moving again'_ would be the right word. We were both having difficulties with our powers, but she was the rock to hold me down, and I was the wind that kept her hair blowing," he said strangely and sagely. Stragely.

"You're a weird _dude _you know that?" Cy asked.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy suddenly cried out throwing the contents of the bowl of cheese puffs into the air, causing the others to fall out of their chairs.

"What? What is it?" Vent cried out thinking the changeling had seen something they didn't.

"I just realized! You and Terra are just like Aang and Toph. You can _airbend_, and _she _can _earthbend_," the changeling stated enthusiastically. "That would make that Pyro guy like Prince Zuko!"

"Yeah… I don't really know what you're talking about," Vent said getting back in his chair.

"We're _going _to Antarctica!" the changeling then said getting out of his seat, a Phoenix Wright pose performed towards the horizon before Cy's hand clamped down on his head.

"_No_, we're not," Cy said pushing the changeling down into his bean bag chair.

"We aren't in any rush to find whatever hydrokinetic that Pyro is looking for," Vent stated. "In case you'd forgotten, water is fire's dominating element, and since he or she will most likely be near an open source of water at all times _because _they're a hydrokinetic, we won't have to worry about him or her being _forced _into anything."

"And if they decide to join on their _own_?" BB asked, seriously wanting to go to the bottom of the world and find a _waterbender_.

"Then we take comfort in the fact that Terra and I are half of what he wants," Vent returned. "I can already snuff out his flames with my air blasts, and Terra can just turn the water into mud with her earthbending."

"_Man _it felt good getting a shower after so long," Terra said from inside the bathroom as the door slid open, giving the group a clear line of sight as to Vent's ensuite's fate.

"Woah," Cy gaped at the sight, dirt splattered on almost everything with hand and foot prints abound. "Mud bath."

"Sorry. Guess I was due for a rinse," Terra said as she finished wrapping a towel around her head. "I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed your robe and slippers Ven," she then said tightening the brunette's green robe around her thin frame and slipping her feet into his blue slippers.

"Uh, it's fine," Vent said shutting off the TV. "Alright guys, shows over. Let's give the girl some privacy," he said shooing the guys out, giving Terra a little space to change. After shutting the door behind him, the brunette let out a sigh, things being a bit awkward with his friend in nothing but a bath robe.

"Hey Ven, can I borrow some clothes?" Terra asked poking her head out the door.

"Yes! Please!" Vent answered hastily, the girl giving him a slightly confused look before going back into his room with a shrug of her shoulders. "Phew. That was close," he said wiping some imaginary sweat off his brow.

"Why? What's she doing in there?" Beast Boy asked before Vent and Cy clocked him. "GAOW!"

* * *

><p>An hour later and Terra's other clothes, apparently her only change, were hanging on a clothes line above the sink, which she'd used to wash them. At the moment she was wearing a sky blue T-shirt and black shorts, as well as a pair of open-toed sandals. All of which were Vent's, though she had taken to using a length of rope to hold her pants up. Until her clothes were dry, Vent had been regaling her with tales of what had been happening for the group in Jump City, since she seemed to want to spend her time with her childhood friend the most. The others asked just <em>how <em>they met, but they said it would be something they'd tell the group later on, but only together since neither had told the story to anyone before, and they didn't want details becoming obscured. That and the dual POVs helped.

"Wow Ven. Looks like you have your own _supervillain_," Terra awed after hearing one of Ven's stories, this one where the team fought Thunder and Lightning. "And did you really deflect a _lightning bolt_? That's so _cool_!" she said with stars in her eyes imagining the brunette deflecting "nature's sniper rifle" with his bare hands.

"It wasn't _that _much really," Vent said bashfully wondering why he saw _stars _in the girl's eyes, but then figured it to be a trick of the light. "But listen, if Pyro comes up to you, I want you to come find me as fast as you can. No matter how he spells it out, Pyro's plans can only lead to one thing. Trouble."

"Got it Ven," Terra returned with a thumbs up. "So, you're really a crime fighting Superhero? I'm jealous."

"You don't _have _to be," Beast Boy said plopping down beside her. "We could _use _another Titan on the team, and I think you're _perfect_," he said with hearts in his eyes, Terra chuckling awkwardly at the violation of her personal space.

"Um… Shouldn't we run this by the team leader?" Terra asked.

"What makes you think it isn't _me_?" Beast Boy pouted.

"No offense, but you don't seem the leader type," the blond answered in a way that wouldn't make the changeling's shoulders slump. _Oh. Too late, _seeing his shoulders sag. _Geez, waterworks too? _she asked seeing him cry "anime tears".

"You _would _make a good addition to the team," Cyborg said coming into the conversation.

"Maybe. Terra, would you mind training with us tomorrow?" Robin asked. "I'm curious as to what you can really do."

"Sure," the blond replied. "Now, all I have to do is find a place to sleep and I'll be set."

"You can take my room. I'll have the couch tonight," Vent said getting up and heading for his room to grab a pillow, Terra's eyes widening before her hand darted out and grabbed his wrist.

"Ven, why don't we sleep _together_ tonight? You know, like when we first met," she said looking a bit embarrassed, the others reeling back in horror. A moment later the kitchen sink blew up.

"S-She doesn't mean like _that_," Vent said facing his freaking-out teammates. "Good Lord what's _wrong _with you?" he asked as to why they'd even _think _that.

"So nothing _happened_?" Beast Boy said leveling a glare at the brunette. He didn't know why, but for some reason he felt exceedingly angry at him that day.

"Nothing. It was just circumstance, and Tamiko only had one bed available," the brunette answered.

"Someone you know I assume?" Robin asked.

"Yeah. She's a friend of ours, but we haven't visited her in years either. Hope she still remembers us," Terra said nervously before turning back to Vent. "C'mon Ven, please. I haven't had a real friend around in a long time. It… actually gets kind of lonely on your own after a while, no matter how much fun you have," Terra said nervously, Beast Boy paling at her words and who they were directed at, Robin at least _understanding_ where she was coming from with the loneliness thing, Cy was trying not to bust a gut at the innuendo, Star was _asking _what the innuendo was of which he spoke, and Raven was trying to remain composed.

This time it was only Robin's favorite mug that went up in flames.

"C'mon Terr, we're not kids anymore. You can sleep on your-" was as far as the brunette got before he looked into the blond' eyes, which were widened as she gave him the dreaded tool that could break any man's will. The Bambi Eyes. "*_Sigh_* Fine…" the brunette sighed, Terra about to cheer out before he cut her off. "But this'll just be a one-time thing. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea," he said motioning to the downed changeling sprawled out on the floor.

"Right… Wouldn't want _that _to happen…" Terra sighed with slumped shoulders. "Well _*yawn* _I _am _getting kind of tired, so I'll head off to bed. You can just put me against the wall," she said walking out, Beast Boy getting up right before she said that only to pass out, Robin shaking his head, Cy once more snickering at the innuendo, Star asked _again _what an innuendo was, and Raven gave up on the entire affair in lieu of reading a good book.

"What did I do to deserve this?" Vent asked scratching his cheek, face heating up at the repetitive insinuations made.

* * *

><p>Later that night and the Titans were all fast asleep. You'd think that after having their souls sucked out <em>while <em>they slept that they'd have trouble going to sleep for a while. Of course, you'd be surprised how much pulverizing a wooden marionette into wood chips would ease your mind. And of course, everyone had their odd habits.

To some you'd find nothing odd about the way Robin slept, except that he _still _wore his domino mask, he had a birdarang clutched in one hand, and his fighting staff was within arm's reach on the night stand. Cy laid on an incline on a large metal rack, similar to Zero from the beginning of his second game, though the cyborg was hooked up to his charging station like a 400-pound cell phone. Star of course never used blankets and slept in her day clothes, head lolling over the foot of the bed with a pillow under her feet. Raven I suppose would be the most normal, except for the fact that her room was completely black to the point you'd need night vision goggles _over _night vision goggles just to see your hand in front of your face. Beast Boy's room of course was a mess, though at the moment something appeared to be distressing him, not dreaming about fangirls like he normally did while kissing a dirty sock. Seemed he lacked that _one _experience that would break you of thinking fangirls were still cool.

As for Vent, well, he was a _bit _uncomfortable at the moment. It wasn't the bed, the bed was fine, but rather, it was the strait he found himself in that was making him uncomfortable. For as long as he'd known her, or at least back _then_, the girl would snore like gravel in a lawnmower. _Now_ however she was softly mewling like a kitten as she leaned her head on his shoulder, slender arms wrapped around his chest and pulling him close to her as she slept. Not that he didn't mind the company, but it was just the _way _she was holding him that made his body heat up for some reason, her legs tangled around his.

_I don't get it. We slept in the same bed before with no problems__. What could've changed? _he wondered thinking back a few years.

At the same time…

_Ven… Sometimes I just can't tell if you're _really _this dense or if you're just being a gentleman, _Terra thought to herself as she kept her breathing steady, trying to hide her disappointment that nothing had happened yet. "Hey Ven. You awake?" she asked after rolling away from him.

"A *_yawn_* little," the brunette yawned. "Why?" he asked lifting himself up so she could get her arm free.

"I'm just gonna head out for some air. I'll be back in a minute," she said putting Vent's robe on before hopping off the balcony to the ground, a platform of stone slowing her fall before she leveled out and hopped to the beach.

"Couldn't sleep huh?" a voice asked from her side as she was about to sit down, a large rock aimed and ready for firing before she realized who it was.

"Jeez BB. Give a girl a little _warning _next time," she said setting the rock down. "I nearly took your _head _off."

"I-It's fine…" he said nervously, remembering the one time he tried to scare Elasti-Girl after they watched Zombie Land, and she ended up decking him with a giant boot to the face. "So… Vent's bed too lumpy?"

"No… Just… thinking where I stand…" she said as her eyes flashed yellow, a stone rising before it was sent out at the water in a geokinetic pulse.

"Where you stand?" Beast Boy asked chucking a stone out as well, though nowhere near as far as Terra's did.

"It isn't important…" she said before sighing. "I… I'll probably just leave in the morning. I can't stay."

"Why not?" Beast Boy asked. "I mean come on, I _saw _how well you took to the place. We've got free cable, indoor plumbing, all the tofu you can eat," he counted off.

"While that's all… _tempting_," she shuddered remembering how that old swordsmith tried shoving the very same stuff down her throat when she and Ven were staying over at his dojo. "I can't really stay because…" she trailed off nervously, her eyes suddenly blazing and her hair being blown straight out as a light shone over her, the rock BB was sitting on being lifted into the air before it was lifted out from under him, the changeling dropped on his back before the boulder landed in the water. "Beast Boy, I'm so sorry, pleased don't tell anyone about that!" she pleaded as he got back up.

"Terra, it's okay. You can't totally control your powers. So what?" he asked like it was no big deal. Worse that happened when _he _lost control was… actually nothing, so he couldn't really relate to her on that level.

"Beast Boy, don't tell _anyone _about this! Es_pecially _not Ven!" she ordered.

"Why? What happened?" he asked.

"Ven, he… He ended up getting hurt because of me," she sighed sadly, a lone tear flowing down her face before she shook her head and glared at him. "You better not tell anyone. Ever!"

"Sure," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Swear it!" she ordered with eyes glowing, the ground shaking a bit before she took a few calming breaths, the slight tremor stopping.

"Okay! Okay! I promise. But really, it's no big deal. If my friends knew, they'd still like you," he said dismissively.

"You just wouldn't understand," she said heading back for Ven's bedroom. _**"Terra!" **_was his fear-filled cry right before he was buried alive beneath a ton of sandstone. Shaking her head of the memory, she floated the rock she used down to the ground once she landed on the platform, Vent finally asleep in the med and snoring softly. "Ven… I promise… I won't lose control…" she said crawling into the bed, stroking his cheek as even after all this time, she couldn't shake that terrifying memory out. "I promise," she said with a sigh as she closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>"Boo-yah! New course record!" Cy laughed the next morning, an obstacle course time of <strong>2:17<strong> under his belt after a hearty breakfast.

"Well, yeah. You're the first one to do the course," Raven said curtly, Cyborg steaming a bit while Robin turned to Terra.

"Okay, Terra. Ready to show us what you can do?" he asked.

"Ven, mind running it for me? I'm still… limbering up," she said a bit nervously, shaking her hands and feet at the wrists and ankles.

"Oh, sure thing," Vent said mussing up her hair a bit before stepping out to the course. "Alright Robin. Whenever you're ready," he said tapping the tip of his right sneaker against the ground. Given the rocky terrain, he'd be wearing closed-toed shoes whenever running it.

"Countdown initiated," Robin said pressing a button, Vent shooting off at the beep.

"Go Ven!" Terra shouted as the brunette shot off. As he neared the fist-topped columns that shot out the ground, his field of vision suddenly turned green before a _neon _green arrow and a silhouette of himself appeared in his line of sight, both zig-zagging through the obstacles highlighting what would be the safest route. Rubbing his eyes, regardless of what he _hoped _was only an optical illusion or a trick of the light, he zipped between the obstacles before coming out the other side, not losing any speed as he headed for the next obstacle. As several laser cannons began to fire on him, the brunette leaned forward before his shins were parallel to the ground with each stride, his body low as he leaned around the shots, only having to dodge around the ones coming straight at him due to his increase in speed and streamlined position. In the distance, four iron gates rose out of the ground, the panels mounted in the top halves designed to come down like the blade on a guillotine. When the iron gates began to come down, Terra's breath hitched as Ven dug his right foot into the ground and shot towards the slowly-closing opening instead of trying to go around them, his body breaking through an invisible wall and a loud –_**boom**__- _cracking through the air as he did so. After running past the final closing gate in a surprising display of speed too fast for the untrained eye to follow, he sharply turned left with his right foot out as a brace, sliding across the ground and tearing a trench with his sneaker in an attempt to slow down enough to continue. Before he could stop fully however, his foot suddenly caught on a boulder, a sickening _**-crack-**_ ringing through the air causing everyone to grimace as the brunette tumbled across the ground and into the water like a ragdoll, his right foot shown to be bent at an unnatural angle as he slowly sunk into the water. "Ven!" Terra cried as she ran out to him, yards away from diving after him when a bowl of black energy suddenly rose out of the water with him in it before she could even reach the bay. Turning to the side, she saw Raven with her glowing hands held out as she brought the pained brunette to her, the boy clutching his ankle and biting his lower lip. Obviously so he wouldn't cry out loud.

"Don't worry. I've got this," Raven said as she leaned the brunette against a rock. "Since Vent is… indisposed, why don't you run the course," she said waving her off. For some reason it satisfied the mage greatly when the geokinetic huffed before walking towards the start of the course, apparently having limbered up enough to go.

"You can do it," Beast Boy said as the timer begin to clock down to the start. "Sides, it's just practice. It doesn't matter if you mess up. Not that you're _gonna _mess up, but I'm just saying that even if you really _blow _it you…" he said before he got a quizzical look out of the corner of her goggle-covered eye. "Shutting up now," he said backing away, the blond narrowing her eyes, but for a different reason. Raven was stroking the brunette's hair with one hand while she healed his broken ankle with the other.

"Good luck Terra!" Robin called out.

"You go girl!" Cy added.

"Onward to victory!" Star cheered.

"Don't lose control. Don't lose control. Don't-" she thought looking to the sidelines hoping Ven would be watching, only to still be clamping his eyes shut as his foot and ankle were slowly realigned with low **_-click_**- and **_-pop- _**sounds. The next moment the starting timer reached zero and the laser cannons sprung out of the ground before taking aim at her, the blond raising a column of stone that shot her into the air before it was blasted apart, the girl riding on a large fragment. An even larger one crashed down on the cannons as she rode past the wall of dust kicked up. Coughing a bit, the girl suddenly panicked when the steel fists shot up from underneath her, a glancing blow almost knocking her from her flying perch before she dug her fingers in and kept aloft. She quickly flipped onto one side to avoid the next fist, only for it to break her mount into gravel and send her tumbling. Thinking quickly, she levitated several boulders and grabbed hold of one big enough to carry her. Seeing the ground rise up to meet her, she desperately pulled back on the rock she was riding to avoid the crash landing, grazing a rock formation but not bein knocked out of the air.

"Whoo-hoo!" Cy cheered.

"Glorious!" Star cheered.

"Yeah! You da man Terra!… um, I mean, you're the… way to go!" BB cheered.

"How's Terra? Is she doing alright?" Vent asked from the sideline trying to open his eyes and watch the course, only for the blond to swerve around to the other side of the tower and disappear from his line of sight.

"She's fine. For now, just focus on letting me fix you up," Raven said resting her hand on his shoulder. "If you move around too much, I won't be able to fix your ankle."

Elsewhere, grazing that one rock formation caused Terra to spin wildly, just barely holding on before the guillotine-like gates rose up to meet her. At the last possible second, she brought up a snake of stone that punched through the upper panel of each gate, jumping across each one as the boulder she was riding was smashed to gravel.

"We're gonna need a new obstacle course," Raven said just _knowing _they'd need it.

Elsewhere, Terra was thrown from the stone snake and sent tumbling into a large pit that suddenly opened up. Bringing a rock toward herself, she couldn't get a good hold of it and tried with a second one, only to get a temporary handhold. Being dragged off, a couple fist-sized stones suddenly fell after her before she came back up, holding one in each hand before dropping onto a larger rock and sailing forward out of the pit. Next moment a set of disc launchers rose up, and caught by surprise Terra pulled up the leading edge of the stone to shield herself. A quick sweep of her hand sent rock fragments of all sizes hurtling toward the projectiles and launchers, all of which were put out of commission as she came in for a landing. The stone breaking apart when she hit the ground, the girl was thrown ahead to skit to a very unsteady stop on her feet. As the dust cleared, the others could only gape in shock as Terra straightened up into the sort of pose every gymnast tried to nail while landing after a routine.

"You rock!" BB cheered.

"Magnificent success!" Star cheered.

"Looks like we have a new course record," Robin said as the timer read **0:56**.

"I musta softened it up for her," Cy said shrugging his shoulders.

"Ven! Did you see me?" the blond asked excitedly, only to slump slightly when she saw the brunette was only _just _getting up, his arm over the blue-clad mage's shoulders before he finally got to his feet.

"I'm sorry Terra. I didn't see it," the brunette said before slumping. "I'm sorry."

"You apologize too much," Terra chuckled, despite that her best friend didn't get to see her _own _that course. "But I gotta ask. How'd you go supersonic like that?" she asked remembering back to an airshow she was once at when a Blue Angel broke the sound barrier, resembling breaking through a white glass window.

"Well uh… if a blue hedgehog can break the sound barrier, I just figured, why can't I? All I had to do was take all the air out of my path while funneling it behind me and there was nothing holding me back," he said with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head, then cringed slightly at the phantom pain in his foot. "Still, maybe I'll just leave the superspeed to the Flash. It's a lot less painful."

"Yeah. Heheh," she giggled, trying to keep a positive outlook even though he'd gotten hurt and there was nothing she could do for him. _Just like back then…_

"A little rough around the edges, but you've got some real _talent _there," Robin said causing the blodn to smile.

"You think?" she asked, hoping she'd get to join the team. She remembered how the room across from Ven's was unoccupied, and she figured maybe they could be _neighbors_. Maybe poke fun at the new kids who moved in down the hall.

"With a little more training, you could-" Robin said before his T-Comm chimed in. Pulling it open to a slightly nonplussed Terra, she saw the brooch on Star's neck, BB's belt, Cyborg's forearm panel, and Raven's brooch all flashing red. At the same time, Vent pulled out his T-Comm _–which he showed her the other day- _which was also blinking.

"Okay… Why is mostly everyone blinking?" she asked, quickly annoyed when a loch of hair fell over her right eye. _I really wish I hadn't lost Ven's Memento, _she thought with a mental sigh. It was the only thing reminding her she wasn't alone for so long.

"Slade," Robin growled. "He's back."

"Slade?" Terra asked, not having heard _that _story yet.

"Bad guy. Way bad," Beast Boy stated.

"Come on. Let's kick his _ass_!" Vent said heading to the Tower only for Raven to pull him back by his hoodie.

"I'm sorry Vent, but you'll be sitting this mission out," Raven said pulling Vent to a stop. "I've reduced the injury to a small sprain, but you'll still need to keep off that foot for a while, and running headlong into a battlefield will not help. Any further unnecessary use of it and the only alternative will be rest," she said asserting that the brunette wasn't going. For both that reason and one other, though she wasn't completely sure on it yet.

"Oh… Alright. I'll rest," Vent said before placing a hand on Raven's shoulder. "Thanks… for patching me up all this time," he said with a kind smile.

"My pleasure…" Raven returned with a soft smile and a tinge of pink on her cheeks, the blond chanting her mantra so she wouldn't lose control.

* * *

><p>The following evening, having waited at the Tower for the others to return and allowing his ankle to heal while watching Shark Week, most likely to desensitize himself to the predators of the deep the next time he ever had to go down there, the others came back from their mission and told him about what had happened. Slade had apparently run the miners out of their tunnels and was stealing diamonds, most likely for tax-free black market trade, before the Titans arrived. Though the brunette began to nervously fret over the blond when he was told she faced Slade on her own, Beast Boy assured him that everything was alright. It was a half hour later that the blond had gotten her things packed, ready to hit the open road again.<p>

"Well guys, uh, it's been real," she said, trying not to see the saddened look on Vent's face as she was about to leave. "Seriously, thanks for everything, but I should-" she said heading for the door, only for Cy to bar her path.

"Don't even think about it," he said with a smile.

"Okay. What's going on?" she asked.

"Well…" Raven started.

"We talked it over, and…" Cy continued.

"We wish for you to stay here, with us!" Star giggled happily.

"We think you'd make a great addition to the team," Robin said, Vent's face lighting up and an infectious smile spreading to the blond's features.

"So… Want to be a Titan?" Beast Boy asked as Robin handed her a T-Comm.

"Me? Really?" she asked on the verge of tears. _This is really happening. I can have a home. Ven and I can be neighbors and-_

"Of course, you'll need some more training. I know you have trouble controlling your powers, and we can help," Robin said cutting off the blond's happy thoughts, Vent suddenly winching as though in pain as the T-Comm dropped to the floor and bounced away, Terra's face a mixture of disappointment and fury before she suddenly whirled on Beast Boy.

"You _told _him?" she growled.

"I didn't!" the changeling said as his ears drooped.

"You promised! You lied to me! You lied!" she cried as she ran out.

"Terra, no! Wait!" Beast Boy cried. A minute later, he, Robin, and Vent made it to the shoreline, only to find Terra's formally-los hair clip lying on a rock. Probably having come loose in her hasty departure. "Terra…" she sighed dejectedly as he reached down to it.

"I just figured it out. I didn't know it was a secret," Robin stated as he walked up to the changeling, Vent nailing him over the head a moment later causing him to look up at the brunette incredulously with a glare, only to be met with one just as equally fierce.

"Dude! Saying Terra didn't have control of her powers would be the same as me saying," Vent said before inhaling deeply. **"ROBIN HIS BLADDER CONTROL PROBLEMS!"** Vent shouted loud enough for it to reach the shoreline if anyone was listening. "Seriously1 Don't you have _any _tact at all?" he demanded, the spiky-haired teen grumbling at him under his breath.

"Vent, can't you go after her?" Beast Boy then asked the brunette as he held out the butterfly barrette.

"Alright. I'll talk to her," Vent sighed as he took the barrette before shooting up to his room. _"Doesn't mean I'm making any promises," _he whispered to himself as he ran in to get something ready for Terra. If he could catch up to her that was.

* * *

><p>"Terr! Terr! Terr where are you!" a voice cried out in the wastes, a blond girl riding a large rock through the air looking up to see a brunette flying through the air and calling out her name. "Terr! Talk to me! Please!"<p>

"Ven! VEN! Over here!" Terra called out as she swerved around to fly beside him.

"Terra, thank goodness I caught up to you before you got too far," Vent sighed in relief.

"If you're trying to talk me into going back, it won't work," Terra huffed. "You heard what Robin said about me."

"I'm not _here _to take you back," Vent said catching the blond by surprise. "I'm just worried for you is all. Please, if you meet Pyro, don't join his side. I don't want to see you as my enemy. You're my best friend."

"… Alright. I'll steer clear of the guy, and give you a call if I can help it," Terra returned, though hiding her disappointment in how _loosely _he now used the term 'best friend'. "So, is that all you had to say? I kinda have to get _going_," she said in disdain as she looked at the Tower.

"I just wanted to give you something," he said handing her a familiar yellow and black-trimmed sling bag, Terra's wide blue eyes widening even further in recognition.

"Ven, this is your most prized possession, I can't take this," she said trying to hand it back to him.

"It's okay Terr. The bag's just a bag, but you're my best friend. My _first _actually," he said causing her to blush at the praise as he pushed it back to her. "A little in-flight snackage never hurts, and I just want to make sure you're well-fed. I also crammed a couple days worth of water in there," he said with a warm smile.

"… Thanks Ven," Terra said taking the sling bag and putting it across her back, giving him a kiss on the cheek as she was about to head off causing him to blush slightly before he found his words.

"Listen, if you're ever up to it, why don't you stop on my the Tower sometime," Vent asked following her out a bit. "You don't have to stay, but it would be good to see you again."

"… Why can't you just go _with _me?" she asked hopefully. "You and I, we could team up like back then. No rules but our own, going where the wind takes us."

"Terr, if you'd asked me that a couple months ago I would've said yes in a heartbeat and stuck by your side forever, but…" he said sitting on her rock and looking off into the distance. "For the first time in a long time, I have a real home and lasting friends. I can't part with that now," he sighed before looking back up at her, a look of realization dawning his features. "Oh, you left this back on the island," he said taking her silver butterfly barrette out of his pocket as he stood up, brushing her hair behind her right ear and placing just right, the aerokinetic missing the girl's blush as he fretted over her. "Look, me staying doesn't mean I care any less for you. I just hope we meet up again someday."

"Yeah… Sure…" Terra sighed saddly, the chunk of rock Vent was sitting on breaking off with a flick of her wrist leaving him to reorient himself, the girl taking off into the distance before he could follow her. _Ven… We'll meet again someday… I'm sure of it._

Little did they know of the circumstances that would follow.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own TFS' DBZ Abridged (line used from ep 25). Do not own DBZ (Destructo Disk). Do not own Eyeshield 21 (parody). Do not own Sonic the Hedgehog.**

**Author's Note:  
>Hope no one sees Terra as "too forward" (the other word I was <strong>_**going **_**to use beinga bit inappropriate for mixed company/readers), though I don't think I need to say **_**why **_**she did it. The hints here and there should've been enough for you to piece it together.**

**Also, if I get enough reviews requesting, I'll start a pre-TT: 1o4E story that details how Ventus and Terra first met. I've left a few hints as to how they met, as well as a few about what happened between them, but to most the clues won't mean much until the "prequel" to Teen Titans: One of Four Elements actually gets written (name pending).**


	18. Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself

**Still looking for names for the "Tournament of Heroes/Heroines" roster, as well as TV shows for when Control Freak takes control of "TV Land". Any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration.**

* * *

><p>The other day was a real stepping stone in Cy's superhero career, since he faced a supervillain solo for the first time. You see, earlier that day when everyone was training together in the gym <em>–since it was more <em>directly _team-oriented than the DR-_, Cy was fighting up against a _massive _set of weights as they're being loaded onto a metal sled, his strength thresholds nearing the maximum. Because his cyber_netic _muscles are incapable of growing in strength, he could only handle so much before nearly getting crushed, Vent rushing over to the controls and stopping it. When Robin griped at him about "giving up on Cyborg", Vent responded with a "it's bigger than _that_" quip. As Robin found out later, Cyborg's mechanical body was incapable of pushing itself past the 100% threshold, thus another thing he missed about being human. After that in summary…

Cyborg was playing a video game and accepted a rematch call, not expecting a giant Ironman wannabe to challenge _him_. After being thrown over the Tower, the other Titans rushed him, _Atlas _taking everything they had in stride, only getting angry when Vent's _Kaze no Yaiba _left a deep cut in his armor _–this one from the right shoulder to left hip-_. Afterwards, Cy was challenged to a no-weapons fight after his friends were taken, and lost at the old stadium outside of town. With the loss of his friends, Cy's human and mechanical halves conflicted with one another, quite _vocally_, about the why he did and why he shouldn't give up. In _another _rematch to get his friends back, the "Limit Gauge" on Cy's arm cracked, and his human spirit _–or "manliness" as Vent put it in some obscure anime reference- _allowed him to punch through his limits and punch _out _Atlas. If anything good came out of the whole thing, it was that Cy realized he _could _push his cybernetic body past the limit, and that thanks to Vent's camcorder, whenever he needed to… vent, he could just wail on an Atlas simulae in the DR.

* * *

><p><strong>Later in the week...<strong>

It was Saturday night, the night sky was filled with dark storm clouds and lightning flashing. The Teen Titans had arrived at the Video Dome, the very same rental store where Starfire was pigging out on candy bars to get her strength up after Vent had freed her from her restraints, only to find a heavy-set orange-haired guy dressed like a bounty hunter or something from Star Wars going on about Warp Trek, some remake of Star Trek made by someone non-related to the original, yet people still watched it. At the moment he was controlling a _literal _TV monster, threatening the girl at the candy counter after she said she didn't even know what Warp Trek _was_. It was at that moment that Cy blasted the TV monster with his sonic cannon, sending it to the side before getting the villain's attention.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't my old arch-nemesis…ses…" he said trying to find the plural of _nemesis_. "The Teen Titans!"

"Uh, yeah. Who is this guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"I am the master of monsters! I am your darkest nightmares come to life! I am… Control Freak," copies of him on all the screens behind him said in unison, the villain now known as Control Freak pressing a button on his demonic remote and causing the copies of him to clap. Spotting the now-familiar remove, Star chose to speak up-

"Ooh! I remember you now!" she gasped, the others giving her odd looks while CF seemed to be beaming upon being recognized.

"Yes, that is right, I am-"

"That remote was in Alternate Future Ventus' trophy room in the future in which I did not exist," she gasped, having recognized the remote in his hands.

"Ah… Wait what?" he asked upon hearing the words _Alternate Future_. "Hold on, are you telling me _this _guy's alternate future self is some kind of human _Terminator _or something?" he asked pointing to the sandal-wearing teen, who looked around with a finger pointed at himself and a question mark above his head.

"I do not know what this Terminator is of which you speak, but it sounds most frightening," Star said, linking the word Terminator to Alternate Future Ventus' apparent _terminating _actions. Given the chunk of concrete, burgundy slime, and cracked circuitboard, it only took a few minutes after actually _meeting _the latter that she was able to find out just _what _he had done to them, as well as the others.

"What? You've never seen _Terminator_? But it's one of the most awesome movie series of all time!" he cried holding up a set of DVDs like cards in his hand that he pulled out of nowhere.

"So… He's a couch potato with a souped-up remote_,_" Raven sighed resting her elbow on a shelf. "I'm _petrified_," she droned sarcastically.

"Oh, you will be. You _will _be," he said pressing a button on the remote, a video drop box suddenly increasing inside, its deposit slot turning into a toothy mouth. Gasping as she stepped back, the thing growled in a very rusty manner. Before it could attack the blue-clad mage however, Cy suddenly hit it broadside with a flying tackle to knock it away.

"Don't' worry Raven!" Cy said picking the thing up. "I can drop this drop box!" he said throwing the thing across the store, crashing into several shelves before the cyborg dropped down on it from above and started clobbering it.

"Get his remote!" Robin shouted, dashing across the room followed by Starfire and Beast Boy. Alex was about to join in the chase too, but something caught his eye and he went off to the side towards a shelf.

"Show's not over, Titans. And if you thought Part One was scary, just wait for the sequels," he said aiming his demonic remote at the two cash registers. As the cowering clerk cried out in fear, evil faces suddenly appeared on the price displays and the handheld scanners floated up on their own accord. CF then brought a set of shelves to life from his position on the floor, the videos falling away to resemble a set of eyes and a snarling mouth, the thing moving in. CF then aimed his remote under his upraised leg, a cardboard cutout of an alien in samurai armor coming to life.

As all of this was going on, Vent was shuffling through a set of DVDs and looking at the various movies that caught his eye.

"Ooh. They have Zombie Land on DVD," he said as Robin and the two-dimensional warrior faced off, something catching his eye a moment later. "Oooh. Rush Hour 2. Also nice," he said before another one drew his attention, Star flying away from a pair of flying cash registers that were shooting coins like bullets. "Cool. They have even Assassins Creed: Lineage. Of course I also saw it on youtube, so I'll just leave this one on the shelf," he said as Cyborg was in the process of eating evil candy. "Ooooh. Iron Man 2. It lacks the character development of the first, but the additional action makes up for it," he said before the sound of T-Rex-BB driving a monster shelf into the wall brought up his attention. "Oh, right. Silly me. Got a little distracted," he said getting ready to attack from the high ground, Raven confronting Control Freak more directly. "Wait... Wait, I know a _better _way to do this," he said before tiptoeing off to the side.

**At the same time elsewhere...**

"Dude! Wicked Scary is out on DVD?" Beast Boy asked with stars in his eyes as he looked up at the very-tall cardboard cutout of a green-robed figure, light green tentacles and a glowing red pinpoint eye being its only features.

"I know! Director's cut, digitally remastered, alternate ending. _*Sigh* _It's great," CF said coming up next to him with a whimsical sigh.

"Cool!" he said before realizing the guy next to him was a bad guy. "Not cool," BB said as CF made the cutout come to life.

"You don't scare me," Raven said breaking free of the cassette tape that had once bound her with a burst of power.

"Look out, he'll eat your brains!" Beast Boy cried as he ran past, the Wicket Scary cutout chasing after him.

"Hahahahaha! I'm winning! I'm winning!" Control Freak cackled as the Titans were now on the ropes. "Wait a minute… Where's the brunette in the sandals?" he asked noticing one was missing.

"Hi there. Mind if I cut in?" Vent asked before decking Control Freak, his punch rolling from the shoulder and sending him flying back to the others, his remote flying through the air before a small tornado caught it, spinning it around before dropping it into his palm.

"Ah yes, Alternate Future Ventus did the same thing to _Warp _as well," Star noted as all the remote-controlled stuff shut down and was dropped to the ground when Vent brough his thumb down.

"Just call him Alternate Vent. Alternate Future Ventus is a bit of a mouthful," Vent noted as he tossed the remote in his hands a couple times, slyly pulling out the AA batteries out the back while no one was looking.

"Hey guys! Movie night!" BB said holding up the Wicked Scary DVD, Cy returning to the outside for more hurling while Vent asked what happened. "Um, I-I know I've got my rental card somewhere," he said packing all his pockets, belt, and even his shoes for his rental card.

"Just take it!" the store clerk said pushing it towards him, causing him to blink bemusedly down at the offering.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, Robin made a trip to the Evidence Room to deposit Control Freak's demonic remote. Seeing as how Vent took the batteries out, and CF could most likely make another one, he didn't suggest destroying it, considering it was replaceable. If CF somehow snuck into the tower to get the remote back, there was the off-chance he wouldn't be carrying AA batteries, so even if he <em>somehow <em>made it into the Tower without making a second remote, if he didn't have spare batteries, he wouldn't be using it until _after _he got some AA batteries. Right around the time he finished locking it down that a burst of feedback was heard over the intercom speaker.

"Robin! Emergency! Get up here, now!" Beast Boy shouted, Robin rushing into the room a minute later.

"Report! What's the problem?" he asked, Beast Boy standing on the far side of the coffee table while the others were on the couch.

"The _problem _is, it's showtime, and you're not in your _seat_," BB stated, Robing steaming at being called up via intercom for something so trivial, a vein throbbing in his forehead. On the couch, Raven was reading FEED, Vent looking over her shoulder and reading with her, which she didn't seem to mind. At the same time, Starfire had gotten a large bowl of candy for the "night of movies".

"Cyborg? You are certain you do not desire the unhealthy sugar candies?" she asked offering some to Cy, who recoiled and moaned weakly.

"Oooooogh… Make it go away…" he moaned while Robin vaulted onto the couch.

"Ladies and gentleman, get ready for the _scariest _night of your lives. Maybe Control Freak's _monsters _didn't scare you, but this movie is going to freak, you, out," BB said confidently.

"Beast Boy. I grew up _in _a horror movie, and I don't think the blood and guts in Wicked Scary are _real,_" Vent said with brow twitching. Raven slightly probed his mind's surface thoughts a bit to see if he was being accurate. Bad news was… he was.

"You're… you're kidding right?" Beast Boy asked nervously. Blood was never a part of his occupation.

"Guess how many bloody chalk outlines I've seen and win a prize," he quipped dryly with a flat stare.

"Uh… Six?"

"Not even close," he said crossing his arms, causing the others to pale. Robin because now he realized how sheltered he was during his lifetime. For Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven, it was because of the sheer context of it. Starfire because it sounded "most unpleasant", and the thought of it seemed to suck the life out of Ventus' eyes. "But anyway, at least it wasn't as scary as that documentary Star made us watch about how _hotdogs _are made," he said with a sudden mirthful tone. "Now _that _was scar- fascinating," he said catching himself.

"Oh yes, it was most fascinating!" Star said gaining some of her lost exhuberance. "I had no idea Earth people ate so many pigs. And insects," she added, Cy groaning and holding his gut as his face went green. A moment later he leaned over the couch to hurl like a freshman.

"Yeah, yeah, bugs, hotdogs, and… chalk outlines…" Beast Boy shuddered at the last. "Big deal. This movie is supposed to be _cursed_," he said letting go of the DVD, which spun in midair. "When people watch it, _strange _things begin to happen. _Evil _things," he said leaning forwards like he would at a camera, Vent kicking him back for no real reason apart from the comedic value.

"Just start the movie," Raven said looking up from her book, smirking slightly at how this was the _second _time Vent kicked BB for seemingly no reason other than the comedic value. Face falling and a vein throbbing, Beas Boy pulled out the TV remote before starting the movie, grumbling and heading out to his seat.

* * *

><p>One and a half hours and thirteen minutes later, ominous thunderstorm still raging in the heavens, and the others were in various states of fear. Robin's mouth was agape as he stared wide-eyed, Starfire was huddled behind the spiky-haired teen's cape, Cyborg was peeking from between his eyes, and Beast Boy was hiding in a turtle's shell. Raven was the most neutral about it, while Vent… had dozed off halfway through.<p>

"Is it over?" Robin asked once the word **END** written in blood faded to black.

"I dare not open my eyes to find out," Star said still hiding behind his cape.

"Now I'm _really _sick to my stomach," Cy groaned.

"I've fought psychotic villains, robot commandos, and oozing monsters, but _that _is the scariest thing I have ever seen," he said before breaking out into exuberant laughter.

"Did I tell you or did I tell you?" Beast Boy asked.

"Thrilling, Beast Boy! It was wonderfully horrible!"

"Yeah, when she was in the basement-"

"And it was right behind her and she turned and-"

"I was freaking out!" Cy said finishing his own statement after Robin. "I wanted to turn it off."

"So…" Beast Boy said turning to Raven. "Come on, Raven, admit it. You were totally scared."

"_*SNOOOOOOOOOOORE*_" Vent snored loudly, his head resting on Raven's shoulder, which she didn't seem to mind that much.

"Like Ventus, I don't _do_ fear," she said simply as she gently placed the brunette down onto the couch, brushing some hair out of his face as she did so.

"But… He was asleep for half the movie," BB said with ears drooping.

"Your point being…?" the mage asked as the brunette snored slightly, placing a blanket over his shoulders which he snuggled into before she headed for her own room.

* * *

><p>Later that night, Raven was sleeping soundly in her bed, hers and Vent's marionettes tucked under her arms as she lightly snored away. The next moment, a flash of lightning caused her to jolt up, the two marionettes tumbling into her lap as she looked around. Seeing the morbid decor of her room, all she was able to say after a few moments was-<p>

"Maybe I should consider redecorating," she said before tucking the two marionettes under her arms to laid down. A moment later however, a piercing scream ripped through the air, causing her to bolt up, said scream sounding like the one from the final scene of Wicked Scary. Stowing the two marionettes on a nearby shelf, Puppet Vent's head resting on Puppet Rae's shoulder, she quickly grabbed her cloak before running to the living room.

* * *

><p>"Who screamed?" Raven asked a minute later running into the Ops Center, the other four in attendance. Oddly enough, Vent was still snoring away on the couch, blanket wrapped tightly around him.<p>

"Sounded like something from the movie. Did we leave the TV on?" Robin asked.

"We did not," Star said picking up the DVD. "And the movie is right _here_," she said before the lights suddenly went out.

"Okay. That was creepy," Cy said as the flashlight on his shoulder raised.

"The storm. Probably just tripped a circuit breaker," Robin noted. _**-plat-**_ The next moment a tentacle draped itself over his shoulder, the boy raising an eyebrow while the others sans Vent screamed, the boy then smiling at the apparent joke. "Okay Beast Boy, you got us. Good one," he said brushing the offending limb off like one would a sock or something.

"Uh… Dude?" BB said from the other side of the room, Robin turning around as Cy cast his light on the tentacle's source. A moment later, the one-eyed terror came into view, tearing his garment away a moment later. The thing had blue-gray skin, fanged mouths all over its body, long tangled hair, two _somewhat _normal clawed arms in the addition to the tentacles that made up the lower part of its body, and a large red eye. _**–KREEEEEEEEEEEEE!- **_The next moment the thing let off a primal roar, the Titans' feet glued to the floor in fear with faces full of terror.

"Geez, can't a guy get any sleep around here?" Vent asked choosing that very moment to wake up, proving he could sleep through a hurricane as he completely bypassed Wicked Scary in favor of getting some milk from the fridge. Downing a few sips from the carton labeled **Vent's**, his eyes suddenly snapped open and the milk flew from his lips _**-SPOOT- **_as he saw the creature before him. "Dude! What the hell _is _that thing?"

"NOW you notice it?" the others growled with shark-like teeth and angry eyes while making slapping motions with their right hands.

A moment later, the thing grabbed the couch and tossed it aside with ease, the others scattering when a plethora of tentacles lashed out at them. Robin tried delivering a flying kick, but was knocked back before he could drive it home. Beast Boy turned into a T-Rex and tried to scare it away with a sonic roar, only for the thing to screech back at him, the changeling screaming before turning into a cat, running off with a startle little yowl. The thing smiled broadly from all its mouthes, but its mood soured when Star hit it in the back with a starbolt, several more following before it deflected one with its arm, a tentacle seizing her. As Star screamed and Cy wrestled with the monster, Raven chanted eight ninths of her chant before lightning flashed, her powers failing to manifest.

"My powers!" she gaped as Robin rushed in to give Cy and Star a hand. Hawk-BB swooped down and dodged a swipe of the thing's claws, turning into an octopus before reaching the three-eyed face and wrapping its eight tentacles around it. Vent tried to find an opening with a projectile attack, but was unable to mount one due to his friend's presence in every flight path, as well as that he was smart enough not to go near the creature. Raven tried to charge in, but a tentacle slammed into her and drove her back next t the stairs that led up to the side door, the monster disappearing without any warning a moment later causing the other four to tumble down in a heam.

"Somebody's claws are on my grebnaks!" Starfire screeched.

"Heh… My bad," Beast Boy said, Vent unable to see just _what _Star's grebnaks were. Probably better he doesn't know anyway. If it ever became an issue, either on Earth or Tamaran, he could just say he didn't know what _grebnaks _are/were.

"Uh… Where did tall, dark, and tentacley go?" Vent asked looking around.

"And from where did it come?" Star asked.

"Hel-lo? Isn't it obvious?" Beast Boy asked holding up the video. "The movie's curse! Watching it opened a portal to another dimension. The monster came through the portal, now its going to hunt us down and eat us! And I'm probably de_licious_!"

"Or…" Cy trailed off.

"Control Freak must have escaped and come to the Tower to get his remote- _And_ take his revenge," Robin stated.

"But that doesn't explain why my powers aren't working," Raven said as Vent helped her up.

"If that remote can turn candy evil, who _knows _what else it can do?" Cy asked.

"Whatever's going on, we need to get to the bottom of it. Split up and search the Tower!" Robin said causing everyone sans Vent to scatter, the changeling grabbing the others while Vent took Raven by the hand and pulled her back to him.

"Split up? Split _up_? Did you not _see _the movie?" he asked leaning in everyone's faces. "When you split up, the monster hunts you down one at a time, starting with the good-looking comic-relief guy. ME!" he said gripping Robin's tunic.

"Get a grip, Beast Boy! The monster's not going to _eat _anybody," Robin said reassuring him.

"He's right. There's nothing to be afraid of," Raven stated.

"Easy for _you_ to say. _You _never got the Joker's _perma-clown _sweat on you after the guy ran past you," Vent visibly shuddered, the Joker's name being universal since he was a First-Tier supervillain, one regarded world-wide. "On an un_related_ note, if the Thunder Brothers are screwing with us, I am _so _kicking Lightning's ass next time I see him," he growled shaking a fist at the thunderclouds outside as the lightning chose _then _to flash.

* * *

><p>"You know he's going to kick your ass the next time he sees you right?" Zephyr asked as her idiot cousin was causing a ruckus in time with the Titans having gotten a scary movie.<p>

"Silence Zephyr! I am entertaining myself," the spiky-haired elemental being cackled.

"Don't tell me to be silent you little MAGGOT!" Zephyr demanded before she gave her cousin the worst samurai-style Feudal Era wedgie of all time.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile back in Titans Tower…<strong>

"Vent… If everything about your childhood is so dark, how can you smile _now_?" Robin asked as the group headed down the hall. Most people who live in Gotham never smile even after _leaving _it, and that's for the normal cases. For Vent who'd seen horrors even _he _hadn't seen, even _as _Robin, it should've been _impossible _to smile by the same logic.

"Thinking back on it…" Vent said as he and Robin hung back for a minute, the latter waiting for the prior's answer. "I haven't been smiling _that _long," he said sullenly, the brunette disappearing in a flash of lightning. Looking around and thinking the brunette was taken while the lightning had flashed, the Boy Wonder let out a sigh when Vent had somehow gotten down the hall with the others during said flash.

* * *

><p>"Look out, y'all, big scary <em>monkey<em>!" Cy laughed five minutes later as the group came across a counting cymbal monkey in BB's closet that said "help me" repetitively. The changeling said he'd get rid of that, but the damage to his reputation had already been done.

"Yeah, Raven. You shoulda seen the _look _on your face," BB chuckled.

"You mean _this _look?" she demanded, face bright red as she leaned over him.

"No, that's more angry than scared," the changeling said nervously.

"I already told you, I don't get scared," Raven said calming down. The next moment there was a loud growling from an unlit area of the hall, the creature pursuing them as its claws scraped against the walls. Before the others could charge through another doorway however, Vent planted his feet in the ground, his eyes cold as he rushed the thing with a fist pulled back.

"You stay away from my _friends _you tentacle-faced creep! HRRRRAH!" Vent shouted as he rushed at the thing, a wind-packed punch across the face sending it and him into the shadows as the sounds of claws fearing through cloth was combined with that of fists and feet meeting flesh like a piston.

"No Vent! Don't be a hero!" BB cried as Vent and Wicked Scary disappeared into the darkness, the sound of the two fighting echoing as their fighting took them out into the hallway.

"Let's move!" Cy said grabbing the protesting Beast Boy and the reluctant Raven as they rushed down the hall and into another room, only to drop into the empty space. Beast Boy became a crow, Starfire caught Cyborg by the armpits and pulled him up, Robin firing a grappling hook and catching Raven around the waist before they could fall. A few seconds after the sound of Vent and the creature fighting… stopped, they rose out of the empty shaft and came back up into the hallway.

"The creature is gone," Starfire said in relief before she became saddened. "Ventus… I cannot hear him anymore."

"Huh. Looks like _Vent's _the good-looking comic relief guy," Raven said with a ghost of a smile as she made a sarcastic joke. Then again, the differences between the aerokinetic and the changeling were nearly _palpable_.

"But if it took Vent instead, then what does that make meEEEEEE!" he cried as a patch of writhing tentacles suddenly grabbed him from the darkness, the creature wanting more. Robin ran up to grab him, but the changeling disappeared into the shadows and the door shut, the Boy Wonder struggling to force it open. A moment later they came upon the evidence room, only for no other living thing to be present.

"Beast Boy! He is-"

"Gone," Raven finished for Starfire. "Just like Ventus…" she sighed, the defiant look on his face as he fought to give the others time to escape flashing into her mind.

"Give me some light," Robin ordered, Cy's high-intensity beam slowly panning across the display cases and walls.

"The evidence room. What are we looking for?" Cy asked.

"Something that _shouldn't _be here," he said after leading the group down the center aisle, Star taking note that the Evidence Room in the tower was like Alternate Vent's _Trophy Hall _in the alternate future. Coming up to a pedestal, Robin reached out and picked up-

"Control Freak's remote," Raven noted as he picked up the demonic channel-changer.

"Right where I left it," Robin stated.

"But how could he conjure these monsters without his technology?" Star asked.

"Maybe he has an extra remote. I mean, we got, like, _nine_?" Cy asked, remembering how difficult it was to set up the TV in the Ops Center whenever the remotes were all jumbled up.

"I'm starting to think Control Freak doesn't have _anything _to do with what's happening," Robin theorized as he set the remote down.

"Well, whoever _is _doing it, they're not gonna scare us," Raven stated adamantly, trying to overcome Ventus' loss. Cold as it was, to _her _Beast Boy was expendable, or at the least a _beast of burden_. Vent actually understood her, so his loss weighed more to _her _at least than the changeling's.

"Fear… That's it!" he said turning to face the others. "The movie, the monsters, Raven's powers; The answer's right in front of us! If Control Freak isn't behind this, then it has to be-"

The next moment however, a red eye flashed behind Robin, a few tentacles wrapping around him and yanking him towards the wall. Robin's wall was slammed up against the wall for a moment, Raven and Starfire rushing to free him, only for more tentacles to emerge and swat them away. As Cy rushed up, Robin began to disappear, the cyborg having a tug-of-war with the Titan's leader as both the rope _and _the prize, only for the beast's grip to prove too strong, Robin being torn away into a vanishing shadow moments later. Tumbling back, Cyborg could only stare as the wall sealed itself. With a mighty yell, he smashed the wall in with a frustrated groan, dust and debris clearing away only to reveal a new hole in the architecture with no one on the other side of it.

"I don't suppose either of you know what he was about to say," Cy said after punching out the wall. "Do you?"

_**Drip**_

"Y'all hear that?" he asked as a drop of something hitting the floor echoed in the air.

_**Drip**_

_**Drip**_

"It came from the hall," Star said, the others turning to the room's entrance. After a moment, a hand grabbed the doorframe, the others reeling back in fright as a shadowed figure shuffled into the room, then fell flat on his grace. After the figure fell to the ground, Cy cast his light on it revealing-

"Vent!" Raven cried as she ran over to him and fisted his shirt as she rolled him over, then brought her hands up to her face to see what was on them. Blood. Looking down as Cy came over, she saw that _whatever _the creature was had bitten and clawed into the brunette pretty good, his shirt and pants stained with blood, but nothing that would be fatal unless not treated. "Vent, what happened? I thought the monster… took you," she said as she tried to heal his wounds, only to realize _that _power was gone too.

"I _was…_ but after you guys left the hall… it suddenly disappeared," Vent huffed between shallow breaths. "Didn't mean… it didn't claw into me first. Thing's teeth hurt… like a _bitch_," he groaned as his body shook.

"Well _this _is a first. Guy who goes to fight the monster actually comes _back_," Cy noted before seeing the puddle the brunette was making. "Course… you could've just as easily _not _made it back," he noted with all the blood, trying not to be too shaken up by it.

"Give me a minute. I'll patch you up," Raven said as she tore her cloak into strips, Vent about to argue that they didn't have the time only to slowly pass out a moment later.

* * *

><p>A minute later with Vent over Cy's shoulder, Star looked around the Ops Center, trying to find some trace of her friends using the light from her hand, while Cy inspected the couch cushion. Raven had had to sacrifice most of her cloak to patch up the brunette's injuries, leaving just enough to cover her shoulders revealing her black leotard underneath, but it was worth it to ensure the brunette didn't die of bloodloss. Plus she had, like, twelve or so back in her closet.<p>

"Robin? Beast Boy?" Star asked leaning over the counter.

"They aren't here," Raven stated as she came in, waiting for Vent to wake up. Even in the dim light, she could tell he was a bit pale from the blood loss. Had she been able to use her powers, she could've ended this whole thing before it started, and if that hadn't been enough, she wouldn't have left Vent in the state he was. HIs wounds would re-open if he exerted himself.

"We've already looked everywhere," Cy noted as he adjusted Vent over his shoulder. Guy left a bit of a mess in the Evidence Room, but it was a small price for him to still be with the team. As much as _that _amounted to anyway given the current situation. Course they'd have to thoroughly clean it later.

"_Almost _everywhere," Raven then stated, Starfire giving off a shuddering moan and her eyes popped while the couch cushion dropped from Cy's hands.

"Worst… night… ever…" Vent groaned as he let himself down from Cy's shoulder, falling to his knees when he hit the ground.

"Vent, you shouldn't be moving about yet. You're still weak," Raven said going to his side, making sure he didn't re-open any wounds. Good thing about Cy's super strength was he could wrap the impromptu bandages tightly like a vise and stopped most of the bleeding.

"I'm fine… I've been trained better than this…" Vent groaned as he forced himself to his feet, hobbling over to the kitchen and using anything within arm's reach as a handhold before he got into the kitchen, fumbling through the drawers for a few seconds before pulling out the biggest knife he could, end glinting in the light and flashing in the lightning.

"You know… You were the only guy who could actually _fight_ Robin whenever it came down to it," Cy noted as he remembered the times that Vent and Robin fought, only for them to be on equal terms while the Boy Wonder pretty much kicked everyone else's butts. "Just who _did _train you?" he asked as the brunette examined his blade.

"Given this thing isn't simply holding them in another dimension, its most likely keeping them in the basement," Vent said filling his lungs with air before heading off. "Come on… Let's go," he said taking the front, completely ignoring the conversation. Given the situation, Cyborg dropped the topic and headed to the stairs. At that point elevator would be suicide.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, and the gang came upon a long staircase leading down into the heart of the basement, nestled in the building's foundation. Vent took point with knife in hand, and given the situation it was understandable. Starfire was behind him and casting a light with her hand while Cy took the rear, hopefully his strength would make him more adept for surviving an attack from behind, leaving the now-powerless Raven tucked in the middle. Peeking around Vent's shoulder as they got to the bottom, the Tamaranean looked around before gasping sharply.<p>

"Oh well. Our friends are not present. Let us quickly go back and see if they-" she said hastily with a smile on her face as she moved to go back up the stairs, only for Cy to plant an oversized hand on her and yanked her off the flight, a terrified little squeal leaving her lips.

"Not yet. We have to get to the bottom of this," Vent stated as his eyes darted into every dark corner. In summary he was scanning pretty much everything.

"This unpleasant room is _not _the bottom?" Star asked timidly, seeing as how they were in the basement.

"Come on," Raven urged on standing by Vent. He'd never been one for bladed weapons, but for all she or anyone knew, he could've been a knife-fighter before he got his powers. He _had _lived in Gotham after all.

"EEK!" Star screamed as she fired a starbolt off to the side a moment later, a bit of smoke rising from the floor.

"What is it?" Cy asked readying his cannon.

"The floor! I saw something!" Star squeaked.

"I didn't," Raven stated.

"Night vision scanners aren't picking up anything either," Cy said as his green-tinted optic panned across the basement.

"Star, you're from an alien race of _warriors _that can bench press semi _truck _trailers. How can you be scared of an _Earth _rat?" Vent asked as he looked around, spotting something in the corner of his eye, though it wasn't definite enough to bring out. Guy didn't have night vision after all.

"Just because my people are warriors does not mean we do not feel fear," she said as she looked around.

"I guess I can understand," Vent returned. "Come on, let's give the place a good sweep before we head out," he said leading the group forward, only for Star to screech again and send another starbolt out, only for nothing to be there.

"Please stop doing that. There's nothing to be afraid of, all right? It's probably just a few rats," Raven stated.

"Uh… Raven… I don't think those are rats," Vent said nervously as thousands of beady red eyes glowed at them from the darkness.

"Run!" Cy shouted as the horde rushed at them, the things resembling rats but had four glowing red eyes like the freaky deaky birds that attacked him, Vent, and BB when they ended up in Raven's head. Almost as if on cue, the mass of bizarre vermin surged en mass from both the girders and the floor, Vent, Raven, and Cyborg running off, only for the prior to see that Star had yet to move.

"Starfire! Run or it!" Vent shouted, the Tamaranean snapping out of it and flying up, firing on the little vermin only for more to leap onto her, the girl crying out as she was buffeted back and forth by the dropping bodies.

"Hurry, we're almost-" Cy said only for Star to be brought down to the floor, the things swarming up to her waist. She tried firing a few point-blank shots into them, only to be sucked down into the pile after one last scream. Cyborg hurled himself towards her, but the horde suddenly evaporated, leaving him to crash into an empty space of floor. "Star?" he said running his hand across the floor, as though it would reveal some hidden passage. "Vent! Why didn't you help her?" he said rounding on the brunette.

"And do _what_? Accidentally hit her and let her get taken _faster_?" the aerokinetic demanded, tears threatening to stream down his bloodied face. That answer and the look in his eyes caused the cyborg to relent, especially since he was mostly correct. "Come on. Let's move. The longer we stay here, the more likely we are to get attacked again, and we don't have the high ground," he said taking the shell shocked Raven by the hand while Cy followed him up.

"We should go back! Maybe there's still a way to save her!" Raven argued as Vent pulled her into the hallway.

"We won't save anybody if whatever this is gets to us too. We have to get outta here and come back with help," Cyborg said as he primed a sonic cannon, his light sweeping across the hallway before he turned back to the blue-clad mage. "We'll get through this, all right? Don't be scared."

"For the last time, I am _not _scared," Raven huffed angrily.

"Gotham…" Vent suddenly said out of nowhere, a far-off look on his face as he looked at his bloodied reflection in the knife he carried, noting how much of a mess he must've looked at the moment. "I've lived in the hellhole for the most part of my life. I've grown _up _afraid. But not of the dark, but what hid in it," he said letting his arm fall to his side. "I'd _probably _say I'm afraid for all the stuff I never got to do, but Star _kinda _took my first kiss from me, so that's one less thing on my list I guess. As much as I don't like to admit it," he sighed. Especially since it was _her_ that was just taken.

"Don't talk like that man. We'll make it out of this," Cy said heading down the hall.

"Isn't that the same thing the guy who was kinda built like you in the movie said before he got _eaten_?" the brunette returned. Cyborg was about to say no to that, but the point was valid. Taking point with Raven behind him, Vent began to lead the way as the light panned the hall in front of them for a few seconds, only to go out.

"Cyborg, we could use a little more light," Raven said before turning around, spotting… _nothing_. "Cyborg?" she asked hoping he was leaning against the wall or something. Everyone else had the chance to scream, so why didn't Cyborg.

"Damn. They got to him too. Whatever _they _are…" Vent thought as his mind raced, Robin's words playing in his mind, which echoed down the hall he had hobbled down right before he disappeared. _Wait a minute…_

_**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!**_

Before the brunette could complete his thought, a horrendous screeching cut through the air, an enormous winged creature with a long tail and four eyes bearing down on them.

"You! Stay AWAY FROM HER!" Vent said taking the end of the knife's blade between his fingertips before flickingh is wrist, chucking it through the air and finding home with a -_**SQUELCH**_-, the thing _**-SCREE-**_ching when a quarter of its vision was stripped away and the knife was wedged into its head.

"V-Vent! Put me down!" Raven cried in shock as the brunette suddenly pulled her into his arms and ran. Without her cloak, her leotard-clad body was rubbing against his, and if she still had her powers, the sheer embarasment would've blown out half the tower.

"No! I don't want to lose you too!" he shouted as he shot down the hall, his makeshift bandages filling with blood, but the brunette ignored it. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the knife fall through the thing's face and to the floor, its eye regenerating before-

_**SCREEEEEEEE!**_

"Aaaaaaah! Don'tputmedown! Don'tputmedown! Don'tputmedown!" Raven cried as she wrapped her arms around his neck, the brunette turning to see an elevator at the end of the hall. Raising his finger, he pressed the button with an air bullet before leaping at the doors back-first, the door opening right before his back impacted the far wall and leaving a blood stain. Getting out of his arms, Raven leapt up and slammed her palm on the Emergency Close button _–designed for more _instantaneous _closing than the more leisurely model-_, the ptera-crow slamming into the door right as it closed, causing it to buckle inwards and knocking her back into Vent's lap. "Vent? Vent are you okay?" she asked as the elevator headed up, noticing the grimace and that the wall behind him was dented slightly. "Ah! Your injuries!" she cried out seeing that his bandages were now caked in blood. "Vent you shouldn't have pushed yourself that far!"

"And let you get hurt? Not gonna happen," he groaned as he pulled himself into a corner and hoisted himself up, the bands of light from the shaft rolling across their figures, the mage's hand taking his.

"Vent… If you had the time to come find us, why didn't you escape?" Raven asked as she stood beside him, the elevator proving as a small safe haven. For the time being anyway.

"I don't… _*pant* _need a reason… _*pant* _to want to take care of my friends," he said with a blood-stained smile through labored breaths, the mage slightly returning it before the brunette's face paled. "Raven!" he cried out as the floor was beginning to fill with some thick, glutinous liquid, rising upwards at an alarming speed. The brunette tried to get to his feet, only to suddenly fall on his ass, the water soon rising up to his neck and moments away from overtaking him.

"No! Vent!" Raven cried out as she wrapped her arms around his neck just as the black water rose up over them. A few seconds later, the elevator door opened, the foul tide spilling out into the Ops Center, both she and Vent being sent rolling down the stairs. Eye snapping open, the mage took a sharp breath of air, filling her lungs since she was on the verge of drowning. Seeing where they were now, she let a sigh of relief escape her lips. "There. _*pant* _We're safe," she sighed as she turned to the blond, only to see he was unmoving. "No… No no no, Vent," she cried as she kneeled beside him, slapping his face a few times to get him to wake up only for him to be unresponsive. "Vent… Vent come on you're _stronger _than this," she said tilting his head back, her cheeks turning a tinge of pink before she pressed her lips to his and breathed a breath of air into his lungs. Placing her ear by his mouth, her heart sank when he didn't exhale. Quickly pressing her lips to his again, she gave him a couple more rescue breaths before he suddenly rolled to the side, spitting out a mouthful of black water from his mouth. "Thank Azar, you're okay," she sighed as he hacked out as much of the water as he could.

"Man… my throat's killing me…" he hacked out as he wiped his lips, then turned to see that Raven was shedding a few tears. "Rae, are you alright?" he asked putting his hands on her shoulders. "Rae, what's wrong?"

"Nothing…" she said wiping a tear from her eye. "I'm just glad you're alright."

"What happened? The last thing I remember was this black stuff pooling in the elevator, then I blacked out," he said rubbing his head.

"Don't worry about it. We're both fine," Raven sighed in relief, thinking her friend had just drowned. A slight blush came up on her face at the memory that in a _way _they kissed, but remembered it was only rescue breathing. "Come on. There's the window. We can get out of here and get help," she said seeing the window a fleeting distance away from them. Whatever was attacking them relied on being able to attack from all sides, but if they got to the outside, they'd have far more options. Then again, Vent was injured, so in a way they were still at square one.

"There are… a few mages in the Justice League," Vent said as he tried to get up only to fall, Raven taking his arm over her shoulder and helping him towards the window. "If we can get to a phone… we can link our T-Comms through them and try to send out an SOS," he said as they passed the couch, the brunette extracting his arm from hers after spotting something from the corner ofhis eye. "It's alright… I can walk," he said with a sigh. _His words finally make sense. I just hope it isn't too late, _the brunette thought as Raven climbed up onto the raised area.

"Alright. Let's get out of here and-" Raven said turning around to face him, only to see that every monster that had been chasing them so far had soundlessly gotten into the Ops Center, Vent standing in the middle of the room as the monsters slowly converged upon him. Almost as though he were using himself as bait to buy her more time. "Vent! What're you doing! RUN!" she pleaded as the ptera-crow loomed over him, Wicked Scary coming up on his left, while the horde of demonic rats slowly encroached upon him from the right. Almost as if they were going to make the mage watch powerlessly as her last friend was taken.

"Raven…" Vent said as the four-eyed rats began overtaking his legs, the leotard-clad mage's eyes widening and on the brink of tears as he slowly began to sink. "I believe in you…" he said giving her a heartfelt smile as his waist was overtaken.

"Vent don't _talk_ like that! We can get through this!" Raven pleaded as her last emotional anchor began to disappear before her eyes.

"Hey… Don't worry…" he said as they began creeping up his neck. "The lovely heronine _always _gets a happy ending."

"VENT!" she cried out as the darkness overtook him moments later, the horde dispersing leaving an empty stretch of floor, and her alone. "Stay back!" she said as the rats began to move as an entity towards her, the mage stepping back as the windows behind her turned back. "You don't scare me!" she shouted as a colossal animal shape began to emerge from what was once her exit point towards her. "I'm not afraid… I'm not afraid…" she said turning away from the thing and closing her eyes, the thing roaring at her. For a long second she clenched her teeth, the images of her friends disappearing one by one before Ventus' final words to her rung in her ears.

"_**Raven… I believe in you…"**_

"_**Hey… Don't worry… The lovely heroine **_**always **_**gets a happy ending."**_

"I… I _am _afraid," she said as she opened her eyes wide, finally accepting an inevitable and immutable truth. "I'm afraid. But that doesn't mean I can't fight _back_!" she said as her eyes turned pitch black, the rat-things backing up uncertainly, the leviathan behind them doing the same as the mage began to chant. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she said intoned, expelling a massive field of black energy causing the hordes of vermin, the tentacle monster, ptera-crow, and wolf-like apparition to evaporate before the black energy that made up their bodies began to spiral around her chaotically. The next moment, a giant bird-like apparition with a wingspan at least ten times the width of the tower suddenly rose up, letting out a tortured screech as lightning ripped through the heavens, then disintegrated into random pieces that were sucked back in through the roof. The next moment, back in the Ops Center, Raven collapsed insensate, a single tear flowing down her cheek as everything went black.

* * *

><p>"<em>Raven. Raven," <em>a far-off voice said, the leotard-clad mage opening her eyes a few moments later.

"You're… You're all okay?" she asked in shock as she saw the others, Cyborg helping her up.

"We were never in any danger," the Boy Wonder stated.

"Say what?" Cy asked in shock.

"Did you not _see _the monsters?" Beast Boy asked.

"We saw them, but they were never really there," he continued. "Raven was afraid, but when she wouldn't talk about it, the fear found another way out."

"_*Gasp* _Her powers!" Star gasped.

"Once you accepted your fear, you regained control over it," Robin then said turning to Raven.

"You mean Raven made all those creepy-crawlies by _accident_?" Beast Boy asked aghast.

"Uh… sorry?" Raven said with a blush, smiling nervously before she realized something. "Vent! Where's Vent?" she asked looking around, Robin pointing to the side of the room where Vent was leaned against a wall, the clothing on his upper body removed as he was now covered head-to-toe in _actual_ bandages.

"I thought you said we were never in any real danger," Beast Boy said remembering how messed up the brunette was when they found him face down on the floor. "Guy looks like Godzilla chewed him up and spit him back out again. _Twice_!"

"Maybe Raven was afraid of what would happen to him, and that fear was what made the creature able to _hurt_ him," Robin said as the mage ran over to him. Then again, the things claws _did _leave pretty long gashes in the hallway, so it was to be considered. Everyone else had just been _taken _with no real fighting involved.

"I am just glad no one was permanently damaged," Star said with a bit of a smile as Raven kneeled over by Vent's side.

"Vent. Vent, it's me, Raven," she said placing a hand on his shoulder. "Everything's okay. They're gone," she spoke softly to him, thankful that even to the very last, he'd believed in her. "Vent?" she asked as she shook his shoulder, the brunette completely unresponsive as his head lolled to the side. "Vent are you okay?" she asked worriedly, fearing the worst.

"He's fine," Cy said coming up to them, the sun rising in the distance. "He's just very tired. He must've been worried about you. There were quite a few re-opened wounds when we patched him up."

"Just the… kind of guy… I am… heheheh," the brunette chuckled with a ghost of a smile on his face, though his eyelids remained heavy.

"Come on guys. Let's leave the two alone," Robin said, yawning loudly. "I'll call someone to take care of the," he said heading to the door.

"Sunrise. Time for bed," he said as the room slowly filled with light.

"Sleep… A most wonderful idea…" Star said floating off.

"You know…" Beast Boy said getting the mage's attention. "Your haunted house was _way _creepier than that stupid movie. Any chance you'd want to do all this again for Halloween?" the changeling asked.

"Heh. I'm afraid not," Raven sighed as she leaned against the wall by the brunette, the changeling simply shrugging his shoulders before heading off. "Vent, thanks for believing in me," the mage said softly as her eyelids closed, not really caring that she was sleeping against a wall. The company more than made up for that.

"You're… welcome…" she heard, the mage's eyes opening and going to his face, only to see he was snoozing away. Chuckling slightly, the mage yawned a bit before letting her eyes close, head resting against his shoulder as the wearieness worked its way out of their bodies.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<br>Seeing as how this was essentially a "monster movie" episode, and that Vent isn't the conventional **_**protagonist**_**, that maybe he'd be the first to actually come back after facing the monster. Didn't mean he wouldn't get chewed up. Passing out from blood loss a few times was a small price to pay I think.**

**Disclaimer:  
>Do not own Zombie Land, Rush Hour 2, Assassins Creed: Lineage, or Iron Man 2.<strong>


	19. Spiders and Moths and Kittens Oh My!

A week had passed since the team had watched Wicked Scary, as well as the events that had followed. The elevator door had been fixed, the puddles of blood cleaned up, and the claw marks buffered. In the time since, Raven had apologized to Vent for him getting so chewed up since it was technically _her _fault, only for him to laugh it off with a hand on her head and tell her it was just an "occupational hazard". No one talked about the events that had transpired that night, considering that it wasn't tactful, and it may as well have never happened, seeing as how Raven admitted that she was afraid in the end. She had assured the team that if she were ever scared, that she'd talk to the team first. Of course… then she threatened to give Beast Boy a one-way trip to the fiery pits of Hell if he ever laughed at her about it, seeing as how he was so sure _he'd _be taken first. It was half-true, only difference was the thing disappeared before it could take Vent to… wherever everyone went.

Jury's still up in the air about that one.

Anyway, at the present moment, Robin was on the R-Cycle, Star and BB were flying, and the others were in the T-Car as they sped through the downtown streets of Jump. Responding to an alarm, they soon came upon a teen male's body _–dressed in a white shirt, black leather jacket, jeans, and black shoes- _with a gargantual spider's head mounted on his/its shoulders; he/it had a complete carapace with four legs attached, which were long enough to touch the ground. Getting caught with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar, the thief pulled out a green energy pistol that shot a pink energy bolt at the team, which promptly scattered giving the thief the opening he needed to make a break for it. And by that, he had leapt atop the building before heading off in long bounds, then began scuttling across the sides of the buildings, his human body flailing about like a limp ragdoll.

"Good _lord _that thing is ugly," Vent retched from the back seat as he looked at the thing from over Cy and Rae's shoulders, the team chasing after the horrific cross-breed.

"Tell me about it. I may never be able to watch Spider-Man ever a_gain_," Cy grumbled as a pair of blasters extended from the R-Cycle's handlebars, a string of shots fired off only to miss the semi-arachnid.

"Can we please just focus?" Raven asked poignantly as the sunroof opened, a missile popping up instead of the proton cannon. Next moment it was launched and streaked through the evening sky, zeroing in on the thief only for him/it to leap clear and avoid the impact/explosion. Before the others could retort, the thief suddenly spun his body 180 degrees, rapidly strafing backwards as he spat large wads of grey slime from his mouth at Crow-Beast Boy and Starfire as they chased after him, the prior getting caught in a "super-loogie".

"Focusing. Focusing," Vent grumbled, knowing BB would have to fend for himself for a few minutes. "Doesn't mean I'm any less creeped _out _by that thing," he said pointing to the man-spider. _And to think that's how _Spider-Man _could've ended up. Eeeeeeyuck! _he mentally retched.

The next moment the brunette fell back in his seat as the entire street was pulled upward like an incline, the R-Cycle and T-Car sailing over a sheet of webbing that stretched to both sides of the street. Touching down, the smash-and-grab artist turned around and spat out more silk, _if you could call it that_, at both Robin and Cyborg. Robin dodged it, but the T-Car got his, the windshield completely blanketed.

"I can't see!" Cy cried out as he pulled the steering wheel hard to the right and slammed on the brake, the T-Car coming to a stop before the brunette reached up to the console and pressed a button. "What're you doing? There aren't anymore weapons-" _**-Fwoosh- **_" . . . loaded," he finished as the brunette shot into the wild blue yonder through the open skyroof, Raven working on getting the spider-gunk off the windshield with her powers.

"Don't be too late to make a difference, don't be too late to make a difference, don't be too late to- Aw crap!" he cried as he finally caught up to the spider-thief, Robin being blasted by a pair of pink beams from the man-spider's mandibles, paralyzing him as he fell towards the ground. Veering off course, the brunette spread his arms out and began spinning in place, a small cyclone catching the Boy Wonder before he could fall, Starfire landing just as the spiky-haired teen's feet touched the ground. "Whoo that was a close one. Hey, you alright man?" he asked as Star righted him.

"Can't… move…" he answered as the thief scuttled out of sight.

"He is okay?" Star asked, worried by the grey skin tone the Boy Wonder has suddenly adopted.

"He will be," Cy said as he hopped out of the de-gunkified T-Car. "The venom's effect is only temporary."

"Getting away… we have to… go after him!" Robin groaned before he began to topple forward. "Whoa!" he cried before Star put a hand on his shoulder to catch him, though was a bit annoyed when Vent held him up with his middle and index finger. Just like how Itachi used to Sasuke, and he _really _hoped the guy wouldn't go on a killing spree.

"You mean _we _have to go after him," Raven stated.

"You need to chill 'til that stuff wears off," Cyborg stated.

"But-"

"Dude, we can handle it. The guy's got a spider for a _head_. Not like he's gonna be that hard to find," Beast Boy said cutting Robin's protest short.

* * *

><p>"Better?" Star asked a few minutes later as she held Robin up by his ankles, the venom having been worked out of his system when she stretched his legs and worked them back and forth at odd angles. While Cy, Rae, and BB scoured the city for the man-spider, Vent went back with Star and Rob just in case someone decided to ambush them on the way back. It's happened before after all.<p>

"Ah, much. Thanks," Robin said with a hint of gratitude, aside from the yelps of discomfort as the grey coloring began to bleed out of his skin, and from Vent's POV, a pendulum-shaped tear from his right ye.

"I welcome you. There are few problems that Tamaranean acupressure will not solve," she returned happily as she righted him.

_Makes me wonder what a Tamaranean _back rub _will do to you, _Vent wondered to himself. _Maybe I'll ask after this is over. I have the _strangest _feeling that tonight is going to be a long night._

"Now we can focus on our _other _problem," Robin said pulling out his T-Comm. and opening it. "Titans, any luck finding our jewel thief?"

"We found something worse," Raven said from the other end of the line, before pointing the T-Comm. towards the "something worse" she mentioned. Looking out on the Jump City Bridge, Robin's eyes widened as he saw a large horde of hovering insects, all of them fighting mad and munching on the bridge cables.

"Those bugs… Aw _crap _I know who's behind this," Robin grumbled as he rubbed his temples.

"Who, friend Robin," Starfire asked as the T-Comm went dark.

"Some third-tier supervillain I thought I'd never have to see again," he grumbled.

"You mean Killer Moth?" Vent asked, earning an incredulous look from the ex-sidekick. "_What_? I grew up in Gotham, same as you," he said before the T-Comm. went up again.

"Uh… we're gonna need backup," Cy said from his end of the line as a _massive _swarm of moths headed towards them.

"We're on our way!" Robin said as they ran off, only for the screen behind them to fill with static, a new face appearing on a blue background causing the others to stop. On it was a white-furred black and grey-streaked moth-man with silver mandible, black and blue compound eyes on his face, silver mandibles, and a pair of antennae on his head. He was quite large with broad shoulders, and those who weren't desensitized to this kind of thing would've been _terrified_.

"Whoa. Someone got a _makeover_," Vent noted almost _immediately_ recognizing the guy, apart from the changes. Before, Killer moth was nothing more than a guy in a costume and a moth-themed mask with some lame silk-shooter wearing orange and green striped leggings. As for what he was _now_, only genetic modification could've pointed to his new look.

"Don't bother. Even if you defeat a _few _of my children, you won't be able to stop me from releasing the entire _swarm,_" he said as the camera pulled back, revealing masses of blue-eyed insectoid silhouettes in large tanks behind him. "Unless you want your city reduced to a moth-eaten wasteland, you'll do _exactly _as I say."

"What do you want?" Robin asked, really not in the mood for any banter at the moment. _Looks like Batman _didn't _scare Drury Walker out of the criminal life, _he thought to himself. Like Ventus, he was versed in the man's previous criminal identity as an _anti-Batman _of sorts, only now he was a _real _moth-man instead of a man in a costume that, frankly, was quite stupid.

"My demands are simple. The city will declare me ruler, the Teen Titans will surrender, and Robin…" he said before seeming to straighten up involuntarily. "… will… take this lovely young lady to her junior prom," he said stepping to the left and holding out his hand to a window on the screen as though he were premiering a prize on Wheel of Fortune. In the pink-outlined window was a girl with shiny blond hair that went past her shoulders, had cute blue eyes, and was wearing pink PJs at the moment from what could be told.

"Hi, Robbie-poo!" the girl greeted, the last demand hitting Robin like a two-by-four upside the head.

"Um… What was that last part again?" he asked hoping he'd heard wrong.

"Robin, who is this girl, and why does she call you 'poo'?" Star asked, a bit of an irked tone evident in her voice. In response, Robin became hunched over, hands twitching, and face set in a fierce grimace with a big drop of sweat trickling down from the… _ceiling_? The next moment, Vent nearly had a heart attack when Robin's entire body melted away, leaving only his domino mask floating in midair with an eyebrow squinched down.

"Her name is Kitten," Killer Moth said as the girl on the screen puckered up, Robin reconstituting herself a moment later, causing Vent to wonder if he was the _only _one to see that. "-and you will take her to prom!" he growled while shaking a fist.

"This… _prom_, is some manner of duel, yes?" Star asked as she floated up to the screen and began removing her left armlette, before somehow slapping Kitten on the other end of the monitor with it and leaving a red hand imprint on her cheek, leaving Vent to wonder-

"_How the heck did she do that?"_

"Robin _eagerly _accepts!" she said as the gauntlet were thrown down as it were, though in this case it was an _armlette_, and had landed on Robin's face.

"It's not a _duel_, Star," Robin said peeling the armlette off his face. "It's a _date_," he answered, causing star to gasp hysterically, giving away how unprepared she was to hear it.

"He does _not _accept! Do you hear? Robin does _not _accept!" she cried before she was yanked unceremoniously down with a short yell.

"We're going to need a minute," Robin said as he dragged the floating Starfire out of the common room by her ankle, leaving Vent on his own with the moth-man and the blond.

"Hi. I'm Ventus," the brunette said to the monitor a minute after Robin and Starfire left the room.

"Hi… I'm Kitten…" the blond returned, slightly taken aback by the brunette's laid-back attitude to the whole situation. She thought he'd be the _least _concerned that his friend was being blackmailed into a prom date.

"Nice to meet you," he returned. After an awkward silence, the blond saw fit to speak up.

"So… Ventus… How long have you been a Titan?" she asked finding the silence awkward and _really _needed something to talk about to pierce the silence. That and she was a bit curious about the brunette himself. After all, _every _hero had some form of costume, yet he mostly wore practical clothing, sleeveless hoodies and open-toed sandals as his "trademarks", all of which changed constantly.

"Since day one," he returned. "So… Jr. Prom time huh? You must me excited."

"Yeah, I would be if my stupid ex-boyfriend didn't break up with me," she grumbled with crossed arms, a scowl visible on her face.

"Hm. Don't see why he'd do something like that. You seem like a nice enough girl," he said off-handedly, causing both her and her dad to flinch in shock.

"Say again?" she asked in surprise, Killer Moth gaping beside her on the screen.

"Hm."

"After that."

"Don't see why he'd do something like that."

"Little more," she said trying to confirm what she heard.

"You seem like a nice enough girl?" he said confusedly, which grew when the girl suddenly leaned _out _of her frame on the monitor and started whispering into the moth man's ear… thing. _Come to think of it… Maybe I should get my eyes checked out, _the brunette thought to himself at remembering all the weird stuff he'd seen, or at least _thought _he'd seen.

The next moment Robin crossed the floor, stopping before the screen. It was at this moment that Kitten and Killer Moth ceased their debating, or at least from what Vent could tell, the two turning to Robin a moment later.

"Do we have a deal?" Killer Moth asked.

" . . . I'll take the girl to prom," he grumbled out.

"Don't tell me. Ask her," he said motioning to Kitten, who smiled smugly.

"You've gotta be-"

"Dot it!" Killer Moth ordered, Robin steeling himself before asking-

"Kitten, was it?"

"Meow," the girl meowed, the girl growing a tail, claws, cat ears, and her face gaining a feline appearance in a brief burst of static before returning, Vent rubbing his eyes _definitely _planning on scheduling an appointment at an optometrist.

"Right. Will you… go with me to the prom?" he asked, Star snarling through gritted teeth at the indignity of this date by extortion, her eyes glowing more and more intensely. A moment later she spontaneously combust, Vent rubbing his eyes at the giant burned matchstick with those two green-flaming eyes at the head.

"Oh, Robbie-poo!" Kitten cooed as she leaned out her window on the monitor. "I thought you'd _never _ask!"

"Now, it's… ugh, your turn," Killer Moth then said through gritted teeth as he motioned to Ventus, the development absolutely _flooring _Robin and Starfire.

"Hm? Me?" he asked pointing to himself.

"Yes…" Killer Moth grumbled. "Nowapparently, Kitten wants a date for each arm. Now… You will take her to prom!" he growled with a clenched fist, teeth gnashing with sparks flying at how un_dignified _this was for a villain of his caliber. _Sure _he wasn't world-renowned, but he almost found Batmans secret _lair _for Christ's sake. Twice!

"Oh, well if that's the case," he said shrugging his shoulders before facing the pink-lined window, Rob still floored from how things were turning out while Star could only gape. "Kitten, would you give me the honor of letting me escort you to your junior prom this evening?" he asked, Killer Moth still uncomfortable with the prospect of having _two _boys, heroes no less, taking his little girl to prom. The girl could defend herself, that much was certain, but as a father he was worried as any other.

"Oh Ventus, of course you can take me," Kitten giggled, the others still agape at how casually the brunette was taking this. "Not only handsome, but polite to boot," she added with half-lidded eyes. "A real catch if I ever saw one. Me-ow," she purred.

"What can I say? My mom taught me well," he said with a smile before it suddenly faded, the m-word passing his lips saddly before he shook it off, a smile once more adorning his face once more. "So, should we pick you up, or will you be meeting us there?"

"I'll… send you the directions," Killer Moth grumbled as Kitten disappeared from her window, not really comfortable with how much she was squealing.

"Well, I'll see about getting a suit then. Maybe something in white," Vent said heading off with his hands in his pockets, leaving Robin and Starfire to gape at one another before the prior asked-

"Star… What the hell just happened?"

"I am… unsire," she answered.

* * *

><p>In the following half-hour, the team that wasn't present at the Tower when "that debacle" ,as Star had so aptly, put it, was briefed on the situation. The team was pointed toward Kitten, who appeared to have some kind of link to Killer Moth, and that if they found her, they'd find him. Killer Moth may've only been a third, second-tier villain at best, but he still had his pride, and wouldn't use his resources for something as trivial as a <em>prom date <em>without a reason. After assigning Star to help them, the team asked why Robin wasn't joining in the search, only for him to say in return-

"I can't. I have a date."

After getting over the initial shock, they asked where Vent was, and that he couldn't help either. When asked why, Robin explained how Kitten had somehow become infatuated with Vent, and how he was seemingly being blackmailed too. The next moment a crack formed across the screen, Cy having to call on BB's T-Comm. and say that Raven had gotten a bit touchy at the mentioning of Vent going on a date with another girl "for some reason", and that a slight power runoff caused a crack to form across his arm-mounted communicator's screen. When that came up, Robin thought about it for a minute before deciding to keep Raven away from the date. If just _mentioning _the date-by-extortion was enough to get under Rae's skin in an instant, he shuddered to think what would happen if Raven was actually _there_. God forbid the girl try and get Vent to _kiss _her while Raven was there, and things would end well for _no one_.

After receiving the directions and time to the junior prom, Robin made arrangements for a tux to be picked up by the Tower's hidden highway entrance. Coming to Vent's room to make sure he was ready, he found a note saying not to worry about him and to just go by himself. That he'd show up by his own accord. Shaking his head at that, Robin headed off, _really _hoping Kitten didn't show up. God forbid if _Batman _heard about this, he'd never hear the end of it.

* * *

><p>It was an hour later, and Robin had pulled up to the pier where a cruise ship was docked, the horn sounding off loudly every half hour or so. The lights were ablaze from the cabin, the party in full swing with music and dancing evident, and a large banner over the gangplank that read <strong>Junior Prom<strong>, **Your Date With Destiny** printed below it. The sun had just set, the sky painted a dark pink color with the clouds coated light pink, like cotton candy. At the moment he was now clad in a black tux with a white undershirt and black bow tie. However if you looked closely enough, you could tell that he was wearing his usual outfit underneath, and that the tux itself was breakaway.

"_Really _hoping she doesn't show," he grumbled, a hand tapping his shoulder a few moments later, instantly putting him in a bad mood. However, instead of Kitten like he'd initially feared, the person behind him instead was Starfire; she was wearing a full-length pink gown with lavender gloves the extended past her elbows, her hands cradling a carnation. At the moment Starfire was silhouetted against eh full moon and looked absolutely stunning, and for the occasion she'd removed her neck piece, the Boy Wonder seeing a lot of skin he hadn't been able to in the past. _Wow. For someone who's still learning her way around Earth culture, she's certainly a quick study when it comes to formal wear, _he thought to himself. In response to all this all he could say was- "Starfire?"

"On such occasions, I believe it is customary to wear a dead plant," she said placing said "dead plant" onto the left lapel of his tux.

"Star… You're supposed to be helping the others track down Killer Moth," the Boy Wonder stated, though had no problem with her being there.

"Your orders were to investigate the girl. _I _intend to investigate her thoroughly," Star said off-handedly. "Besides, you may require saving. This _Kitten _is perhaps some form of ooze monster in disguise. She certainly is _ugly _like a monster, yes?" she asked, then looked around and noticed someone was missing. "I do believe friend Ventus was also being forced to do this as well. Tell me, have you seen him anywhere?"

"No, I haven't," Robin stated. _Maybe the guy ditched and saved his own skin. Not that I can blame him. If we were in the other's shoes, I'm sure _I'd _do the same thing._

"Hey, look at that!" someone on the gangplank cried, causing Robin and Starfire to look up into the sky where a girl was pointing her finger.

Following the girl's hand, they looked to the skies to see a white dot heading towards their location. Upon squinting his eyes, Robin saw that Vent was now dressed in a stark white vest with matching pants and shoes, a white tie around his neck, and a black dress shirt underneath. At the moment, his left hand was atop his head holding down a white fedora hat with a black band around it, a short white scarf tied around his neck and fluttering slightly in the breeze. At the moment he was standing just like that, a few visible wisps of wind around him as he descended towards the dock in a shallow slope, causing passerby to look on in awe as his outfit fluttered gracefully in the wind. After touching down lightly, his toes meeting the wood before his heels, his body simply _oozing _charisma as the wind around him finally died down, the brunette walked towards his comrades with a relaxed smile on his face.

"Robin, good to see you've shown up," Vent said removing his right hand from his hat before placing it in his pocket. "I still wonder how you never get _helmet _hair though," he said pointing to the helmet resting on the bike's handle.

"Kinda wish it was only _you _who had to do this," Robin grumbled to himself.

"Aw don't be like that, _Robbie-poo,_" the brunette chuckled causing ire to swell up within the 4-foot hero. "Besides, you're way too rigid for your own good. Relax a little. You'll live longer," he said before turning to Starfire. "Ah, Starfire, you look quite _stunning _this evening. The evening sky and moon compliment your dress _perfectly,_" he said giving a slight bow, causing the Tamaranean to giggle slightly while a small storm cloud formed over the Boy Wonder's head, brought about by his last statement before he complimented Starfire. Well, that _and _becaus he was complimenting Starfire, but that was a moot point.

_It isn't _me _who has to worry about _living _longer, _the spiky-haired teen growled at the brunette's words, trying to think of a few ways he could get around the maxim he made with Batman and just _murder _this guy for all the grief he was putting him through.

Before he could follow through on such thoughts however, and boy did he really _want _to, a car honking broke their attention away from one another as a pink limousine pulled up on the gangplank. The next moment the passenger door opened, Kitten stepping out in a pair of pink high heels; she wore a matching gown, strapless with a corsage of her own on display. Looking around for a moment, she then waved towards her first date.

"Yoo-hoo! Robbie-poo! Your _Kitten _has arrived. Me-ow!" she purred as she batted a hand like a cat would a paw.

"Second thought, maybe I _will _need saving," Robin stated with a bit of a smirk, though hid it so Kitten wouldn't have an excuse to turn the city into a moth-eaten wasteland.

"Oh, Robin! My _date_! Robin! Don't you look _handsome_!" she said draping herself on him. _"Compliment me on my dress,"_ she ordered softly and nastily.

"No," Robin returned curtly.

_"Do it, or _else_,"_ she threatened with narrowed eyes, but then turned her head when she saw Vent bend his arm at the elbow in front of himself and give a slight bow.

"You are wearing a very nice dress this evening. Pink is definitely your color," he said with a bowed head, the motion causing a few of the girls around to sigh wistfully at the charisma he exuded.

"Oh Ventus! You're _such _the charmer!" the girl swooned, directing her attention to the brunette and taking the pressure off Robin, which both he and Starfire were thankful for. "Not at _all _like my worthless ex-boyfriend Fang!" she said _very_ loudly before turning to the two, who had just now pulled their fingers from their ears. "Now, take my arm, lead me in, and would it _kill _you to smile?" she asked facing Robin, seeing as how, to her surprise, Vent didn't need to be prompted.

" . . . Maybe," Robin responded as he plastered a savagely lopsided grin on his face, cheeks creaking and popping with the effort as if his whole face was about to split apart.

As the three headed up the gangplank, Star floated closer, the toes of her shoes striking sparks against the concrete, though _more _sparks left her mouth as she ground her teeth together, eyes ablaze and smoking out of pure rage. The next moment she brought a fist up before slamming it into the hood of Kitten's limo, the force of the blow ruining the entire front and causing the car to briefly flip up into the air, then come down with the rest of the bodywork crumpling and the windows cracking.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later and everyone had situated themselves at the prom. Kitten was flaunting both Robin and Ventus like eyecandy, though for some reason Vent seemed to be getting more wistful looks than Robin; most likely because he was actually smiling instead of scowling and rocking his chair back and forth incessantly. Robin, well, he was rocking his chair back and forth incessantly, while Vent was simply smiling as he soaked in the atmosphere and music, tapping his foot lightly. Star on the other hand was on the other side of the deck, keeping both of her friends in her line of sight, lest Kitten try something with the two of them. It was when a new song started that a smile spread across Kitten's face as though someone had thrown a switch before she faced Robin.<p>

"Ask me to dance."

"I don't dance," Robin answered plainly.

"Come on, Robbie-poo. You've never, ever _danced _before?" she asked trying to pull him out of his seat.

"Tried it once. Didn't like it," Robin answered flatly.

"Venty already complimented me on my dress, so now it's _your _turn to dance," the girl repeated.

"Venty?" he asked out of the corner of his eye, wondering just how the brunette put _up _with this girl. _Maybe he really _is _crazy, _he thought to himself.

"I've got no beef with it," he said shrugging his shoulders as he filed his nails. How the guy could be acting so calmly in a situation like this, Robin would never know.

_Yep. _Deee_finitely crazy, _the spiky-haired teen thought to himself as he was pulled to the dance floor.

"Well… If you aren't willing to dance, then _maybe _I could have the whole city destroyed," Kitten said offhandedly before facing Robin. "_Or_, we can just skip straight to the _kissing_."

" . . . Wanna dance?" Robin asked, preferring the lesser of two evils. Nodding, Kitten hauled Robin onto the floor, the spiky-haired teen's dislike of the high-stepping arts evident. Maybe an aftereffect of the rave that turned into a knockdown/drag-out brawl when Starfire was nearly kidnapped if Vent's thoughts were anything to go on.

Elsewhere, Vent noticed that Star was so shocked that she was unable to see straight, her irises and pupils having briefly disappeared as she was about to dip from the punch bowl. A moment later her mouth seemed to _literally _fall into the punch bowl after hanging off a corner of her chin for a few seconds. When an unsuspecting couple got too close to her, the girl's anger causing energy to flow through the ladle and make the bowl steam and bubble, in what Vent would from hereon refer to as a "sight gag", Star seemed to quite _literally _tear open a new mouth from her mouthless face before she went totally Venom/Godzilla/Jaws hybrid on their asses. Letting out a bellowing animal roar more terrifying than the three could ever hope to achieve individually, the two gasped at the sight before running away in sheer terror. Turning back to the dancing couple, Vent's eyebrow rose when Robin seemed to be trying to relay some sort of _message _to him.

"_Ventus, save me, please!" _Robin mouthed over the girl's shoulder, the brunette sighing before he got up, dusting some dust off his pant legs before stepped over to the two.

"Hi there. Mind if I cut in?" he asked tapping the girl's shoulder, the relaxed look in his eyes causing her to falter for a minute.

"Uh… Sure…" she trailed off, Robin running away as though he couldn't do it any faster, the brunette seemingly _easing _into the slow song that started at the moment Robin tagged out, the girl resting her head on his chest seemingly _conflicted _about the whole thing.

"_Okay, it's official. Vent. Is. Crazy," _Robin whispered to Starfire as he arrived over by the punch bowl, unaware that her mouth had returned to normal.

"_That may be so, but friend Ventus doesn't seem to… _mind _Kitten's company,"_ the Tamaranian stated, as though this was all a bit difficult for her to process.

"_Like I said. Crazy," _the Boy Wonder returned. The next moment his T-Comm. went off, which he promptly answered. _"Have you found anything on Killer Moth?"_

"Not yet," Cy answered.

"_Well hurry up guys. Vent's keeping Kitten busy for now, but I don't know how long it'll be until he actually _snaps_," _Robin said from Cy's arm communicator. _"And do you remember what happened the _last _time he snapped? If _that _happens _here_, it'll be worse than the city being eaten by _moths_!"_

"How can I forget?" Cy asked. Night after the brunette first flipped out, he had a nightmare about the brunette bearing Greed's graphene skin coating coming after him with steam rising from his mouth intent on ripping him to pieces after stepping off a twenty foot-high pile of bodies. _Way _too much FMA in one dream for his tastes.

At the same time back on the dance floor, after two slow songs, Kitten muttered the two words that most surely would've spelled her doom, had Raven been present to hear them.

"Kiss me," Kitten said with half-lidded eyes with her arms around his neck.

"Hn, I didn't think a pretty girl like you had to even _ask_," Vent replied as he leaned slightly over her, eyes becoming half-lidded as well as they stared deep into hers. "After all, I'm sure _any _guy would be willing to grace a lovely girl like yourself," he said before he tipped her back at the waist, his face descending towards hers, the blond's pulse rising and the music becoming drowned out as their lips met, the girl's eyes widening before her eyelids became heavy, and she closed her eyes. Wrapping her arms around his neck and back as she did the same, she felt herself about to moan into the rising kiss before-

"Hey! What do you think you're doing to _my _girl!" the spider-headed teen from before suddenly growled out as he appeared on the deck, assumed a fighting stance as the DJ suddenly cut off the music. Despite his grotesque appearance, his voice was perfectly normal for a teenage boy.

"Fang?" Kitten gasped as she separated from the kiss she didn't know she'd be so passionate about. She blushed a bit when she thought she'd gotten a bit of tongue out of it, but shrugged it off figuring it for nerves.

"Kissing her. What's it look like?" the brunette said off-handedly like it were the most natural thing in the world. "Besides, didn't _you _break up with _her_?" he asked poignantly.

"Well… yeah but-" he said only to be interrupted a moment la-

"Why'd you do it then?" the brunette stated as he stepped between the spider-teen and his impromptu date. "She's a nice girl. Why break it off with her?" he asked as though it were the most obvious question in the world.

"Well… Uh… She's too high maintenance?" he said more in the form of a statement, his fighting stance loosening as his body just hung off the bottom of his... head.

"Dude, _all _girls are high maintenance. It's in the genes," the brunette returned as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "If you're going to break up with a girl just because they need so much attention, you may as well start swinging for the _Home_ team," he said, the spider-teen's mandibles clicking madly at that quip. "Oooh… You're angry aren't you?" he asked, causing the spider-teen to hiss. "Yep. You're mad. Woob woob woob woob woob woob!" he cried out as he separated from Kitten, then began running around the deck wildly as he held his fedora down with his left hand, the spider-teen spitting wads of grey webbing out of his mouth only for the teen to sidestep each spray and continue running, his feet hardly touching the ground as he circled to the back of the ship, Fang following.

"So… _That's _your ex?" Robin asked in revulsion. _God I _so _didn't need that picture in my head…_

"Yeah…" Kitten said before turning to him. "Robbie- I mean, Robin?" she asked correcting herself.

"Yeah?" the teen returned, hoping she wasn't going to ask _him _for a kiss.

"Is Vent, um… sane?" she asked nervously.

"I don't follow," he said, having questioned the brunette's sanity since day one.

"Well I mean, I indirectly… threatened the city," the girl stated as she ran her fingers through her hair.

In_directly? _Robin thought with a twitching eyebrow.

"And yet he didn't treat me like I had the city by the balls. He just treated me like… like I was just a normal girl," she finished as she tapped her fingers together nervously.

"And you are bringing this about because…?" Star trailed off.

"Well… No one's ever treated me this way before," she said before reaching into her corsage and pulling out a silver push-button controller from the petals, Robin panicking slightly before she held it out to him. "Here. Take it."

"Say what?" he asked in surprise.

"If Vent found out I had my finger on the trigger the whole time, he might stop treating me like a normal girl," she said meekly, betraying the bitchy persona she'd been betraying up until that moment. "He's really… nice. That's the way I want him to see me."

"Woob woob woob woob woob woob!" said brunette_ woob_ed out as he ran for his life from the irate spider-teen.

"Do you not think we should help him?" Star asked as Vent and Fang were in the process of lapping the dock for the fifth time in just as many minutes. During their sixth pass however, one of Fang's legs suddenly slapped Robin across the chest as he ran by, the bomb trigger sent sailing through the air before the spider-teen suddenly rounded and caught the trigger in his hand.

"If _I _can't have Kitten, _no one _can!" he said before clicking the bomb trigger with narrowed eyes. All six of them, which didn't make that much sense because he was part-spider and should've had _eight_.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at Killer Moth's house…<p>

"Start talking!" Cy ordered as he held Killer Moth up by the scruff of his… front? "How do you control the-" he said before a plethora of alarms and red strobe lights went off. "MOTHS!" he cried as the front panels of the pens began sliding open, clouds of vaporous gas being released as the city-destroyers began to flood out of their tanks.

"Run!" Beast Boy cried as he tried as he ran towards a panel leading to the street, only for the top to slam shut in his face thanks to Raven's powers.

"We can't let them escape! Seal the exits!" she ordered with narrowed eyes, a few moths combusting into flame. Not wanting to end up like the shrieking bugs, Beast Boy and Cyborg quickly complied, the changeling positioning himself in front of an air vent, while Cyborg began to thorw stuff into the stairwell and barricading the stairs.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at the party…<p>

"You don't even know what that thing _does_!" Vent argued as he fought Fang for the controller, the spider-teen keeping it just out of arm's reach, the brunette somehow keeping the fedora on his head throughout the scuffle.

"_You _losers want it, so that's _good enough_ for me!" Fang growled as he swung his legs at the brunette, who raised his arms to block them each time. As the people ran around in a panic, tables and the like were being knocked over left and right, Robin and Starfire preoccupied with ensuring no one knocked someone overboard.

Leaping up onto the strings of lights hanging over the deck, the brunette began to leap from one to the other while Fang fired off globs of silk at the offending teen. However, the brunette proved too quick for him as he continued to leap between each shot, sliding down the side of the cabin back to the ground level, where a pointed spider leg halted his retreat in one direction, forcing him towards the main dance floor, where Kitten was still shellshocked.

"Kitten! Move! I don't want you getting hurt!" Vent shouted as Fang began batting his spider legs against the teen's forearms once more.

"Hey don't tell her what to do! She's _my _girl!" Fang argued.

"No, _you _broke up with _her_! Remember?" Vent argued back, Kitten shaking her head before leaving the area, not wanting to get in the brunette's way.

Clearly angered by this statement, Fang began shooting paralyzing venom shots from his mandibles towards Vent, who in response fired air bullets at each one and caused them to burst in mid-air. However, when the brunette's foot suddenly slipped on an overturned table's tablecloth, Fang quickly took aim at the brunette's face from point-blank range. To the cross-breed's surprise however, the teen had leaned back at a near-impossible angle with his hands palming the deck, the left side of the brim of his fedora hat getting clipped before his foot suddenly connected with his chin in a dynamic bicycle kick that sent him skyward. Flying through the air, Fang was suddenly sent down towards the deck by a charged starbeam courtesy of Starfire, only for Robin to send him flying with his bo-staff before he could land. Crashing through a table and sending balloons into the air, the spider-teen's limbs all gave out as he slumped againt his place of rest.

"Aw man. He clipped my hat," Vent sighed running his fingers along the notch in his hat that got cut. "There goes my de_posit_," he sighed before noticing that the push-button controller that was in Fang's hand had rolled out of his grip, coming to a stop beneath Kitten's foot.

"K…Kitty…" Fang rasped out as he reached into his pocket, holding out some of the bracelets stolen from before, only for Kitten to scrunch up her nose in disgust.

"Consider yourself dumped," she said stomping the press-button trigger in two, Fang's eyes drooping shut as his head fall forward, the stolen merchandise clattering across the deck from his outstretched hand a moment later.

* * *

><p>At the same time back at Killer Moth's basement, Cyborg and Raven were huddled against each other to protect themselves from the flying army. Before the end could come however, the insects suddenly transformed into large caterpillarmaggot-like larvae, all dropping to the floor leaving the two at a momentary loss for words. Beast Bopy, back in human form, emerged from beneath Ravens' cloak.

"O…kay…" he said as he watched the things crawl around the basement.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later back at the pier after the cruise ship had been pulled back into port, Fang was escorted down the gangplank, his hands cuffed and all four spider legs shackled together above his head. Being led to the back of a van by an armored guard, he had a very puzzled look on his face when he saw Killer Moth being held behind a transparent shield perforated by air holes, a mask locked onto his face keeping his mouth shut reminiscent to that worn by Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.<p>

As all this was going on, the people slowly got back into the swing of things at the dance, Robin and Starfire hanging off to the side while Vent was having a leisurely chat with Kitten.

"Vent, um… Thanks for taking me to the dance," Kitten said rubbing her arm nervously. The night was _far _different from what she thought it would be. After all, she did this to make Fang jealous enough to take her back, only to realize she didn't like him at all, just the _ideal _of it.

"No problem. I had fun," the brunette returned rubbing the back of his head. At the same time away from the two, Robin and Starfire looked on in shock.

"_Most amazing. Friend Ventus appears to have made Kitten forget that you exist,"_ Star said in amazement.

"_Yeah. Let's _keep it_ that way,"_ Robin said slinking off, Star behind him as they made good on their escape.

"Well, I've gotta get going. Don't do too well without a good night's sleep. I'll see you later, 'kay?" the brunette asked as he walked off.

"Wait!" she called out, the brunette turning around to face her. "Um… Earlier when I asked you to kiss me… It was to make my boyfriend jealous," she said bowing her head.

"The big bug thing?" he asked with his head tilted to the side.

"Yeah… Not really sure what I saw in him anymore…" she trailed off, wondering just _why _she liked him. _Oh wait, it was to piss off daddy, _she sighed. "Listen… Do you think if… under different circumstances we could've…"

"**And nooow for the moment you've all been waiting for. The King and Queen of this year's prom are… Ventus aaand Kitten!"** the DJ for the prom announced, causing the girl to look up in shock, wondering just _how _that happened. At the same time, a shadowed figure chuckled to himself by the now-empty balot box before disappearing in a flicker of movement.

"Eh, I guess one more dance won't kill me," Vent said holding his hand out. "Come on. Don't tell me the girl who had Jump by the balls is getting cold feet _now_," he chuckled as he held his hand out to her.

"Y-You _knew_?" she asked as she offered her hand to him, worried that he'd turn her down before he walked her over to the dance floor.

"Kinda hard not to, but hey, you were having boy troubles. You just vented yours differently than screaming into a pillow," he said as he took her hand, the girl dazed as he led her to the dance floor.

"Hey um… This may seem random, but… When you kissed me, what… did I taste like?" she asked nervously a minute into their dance, hoping she wouldn't come off as some kind of freak.

"Hmmm… A bit like lip gloss… And cotton candy," he said with a bit of a grin, causing the girl to blush the same shade as her dress before they continued dancing under the moonlight.

* * *

><p>"So… You think Vent made it out of there okay?" Robin asked when he and Starfire made it back to the tower. It had been close to an hour since the prom had ended, and at the moment they were waiting for the others to return.<p>

"I am… uncertain," Star said worriedly for her buddy of flying. "Kitten seemed to have… _changed_, from who she first portrayed herself to be."

"You mean a complete and total bitch?" Robin wondered, but mentally slapped himself for saying that out loud.

"Tell me, what bearing does a female dog in heat have to do with our current straits?" she wondered aloud, the Boy Wonder put on the spot once again before the others got back, sans Vent. While Cyborg and Raven stepped towards them, he spotted Beast Boy out of the corner of his eye, well, being Beast Boy, so didn't pay any mind to what he was doing or _what _he was sneaking into his room. "Friends Cyborg and Raven. Tell me, how was your battle against the Killer Moth?" she asked excitedly, the sight of her in a dress causing Cy to stare before he shook it off.

"Well we kicked his butt after a few minutes, but then the moth tanks opened for no reason," Cy said recounting the events of the battle that _would've _been epic, had it not been against a creepy guy in the basement. "We sealed all the exits, but a few minutes later, the moths just suddenly… _dropped_, and degraded into larvae."

"_Not _something I really wanted to see," Raven stated evenly, a little unnerved by the sight of the little bodies wriggling across the floor. "By the way, where's Ventus?" she then asked looking around, noticing the brunette's absence.

"Hey guys. How're things?" said brunette said from the window in the lower right corner as it opened, a security measure designed to ensure it was either him, Starfire, Raven, or Beast Boy before opening and letting them in. When he stepped down, his hand on the white fedora over his head, Raven was actually checking the brunette out, though felt a bit distanced from him by all the white he was wearing.

"Fine. How was your _date _with Kitten?" Cy quipped with a grin, causing Raven to growl to herself, the mugs on the kitchen counter clattering before she shrugged it off. No need to make the innocent _cups _suffer any more than necessary.

"Fine. Evil ex-boyfriend hit the bomb trigger or whatever it was, but we stopped him," he returned, Robin and Star noticing he was keeping quiet about the kiss but figured it wasn't _too _important that the others know. "Just hope she didn't have _seven _evil exes," he laughed in reference to that one movie.

"I _hope _not. _One _was bad enough," Robin grumbled, remembering the feeling of Fang's venom when it paralyzed him. _Not _fun, though Starfire's Tamaranian acupressure was kinda nice.

"So… What happened to Killer Moth?" Raven saw fit to ask.

"Aside from the damages to the bridge, no one was hurt. While he'll be detained while the city determines what to do with him, since Kitten technically didn't do anything _illegal_, or at least anything that would hold up in a court system, she'll be watched on a probationary basis with someone checking up on her every once in a while," the brunette explained. "We also exchanged numbers in case we needed to talk," he said pulling out a slip of paper with the word **Kitten**, a phone number, and a cat's face on the corner from his pocket, Raven's teeth gnashing before Cy's favorite mug suddenly combusted.

"And Fang?" Robin asked.

"Being detained for actually _releasing _the moths," the brunette stated. "That, and for the jewelry he stole earlier. Apparently the guy was planning to _woo _Kitten with flashy baubles, but when she turned him down, the guy went ballistic and paralyzed a few people."

"Oh… Who'd she turn him down for?" Cy asked.

"No clue, but whoever the lucky guy is must be _some _lucky bastard to get a cute girl like her," the brunette said with a far off look. Robin _still _couldn't tell whether he was acting, insane, and the fact that he couldn't profile the guy with all his years of experience was a bit worrying. "Anyway, I won't go into details unless I _have _to, but I need some industrial-strength mouth wash. Got any around?" he asked.

"Yeah. Keep some in the sink after that Pudding of Saddness stuff Star whipped up," he said pulling out a bottle of blue mouth wash, the brunette snatching it out of his hand before heading off, Raven following him in order to press him for more details.

* * *

><p>"Vent, you in there?" Raven asked knocking on his door, the sound of gurgling from the other side slightly audible before the brunette came to the door, his white vest off leaving him in a deep black dress shirt, currently brushing his teeth with a cup of mouthwash in his other hand. The teen held up a finger signifying to give him a minute, where he spit out the toothpaste in the ensuite sink before stepping back to the door.<p>

"Raven, it's good to see you're alright. You weren't hurt by any of the moths were you?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine," Raven stated. "Mind if I come in? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure, make yourself at home," he said ushering the girl into his room, said mage looking around at the walls and ceiling. "So what was it you wanted to talk about?" he asked from the bathroom, rinsing his mouth out with some of the blue substance before he spit it back into the sink.

"Just wondering exactly _why _you needed mouthwash," Raven stated as she crossed her arms and threw her hood back as she sat on the side of his bed.

"Well… I may've gotten… too into character and… kissed Kitten during prom," the brunette admitted nervously.

"You _kissed_ her!" Raven cried angrily, the light bulb on the desk lamp bursting at her outburst before she calmed down. "Hold on, you said you got _too into character_. What exactly did you mean by that? If anything at all."

"Well…" the brunette said sitting behind his desk. "I guess the best way to explain it is like… I adopt a different mindset for different situations. You've seen me as Casual, Serious, Otaku, Goth, Fury, Childish, Giddy, Angry, and Roy Mustang Vent so far. This evening I adopted my _Formal _Vent persona, and may've gotten a little too into it."

"Like multiple personality disorder?" Raven asked, the kiss thing relatively forgotten.

"No... Yes... Maybe..." the brunette admitted as he scratched the side of his cheek, then turned to see the look Raven was giving him at his unsure answer. "Well... I guess you could say me changing personas is like a truck changing gears when carrying different loads. I'm not sure if it _is _multiple personality disorder or not, but ever since I can remember whenever I came across a problem I couldn't solve on my own, I'd just begin acting differently and be able to solve the problem. It's subconscious as far as I'm aware, and the changes can be minor or extreme."

"So when we went to The Crow's Dungeon, you were _Goth _Vent?" she asked, remembering how dark, yet sagely he was acting. Not too dark, but with just enough light so he wasn't _too _disanced from his original mindset.

"I guess you could put it that way. I'm not sure how to explain it, but when something makes me nervous or stressed, it's like I just _change gears _to help deal with the current problem," he stated. "Try not to tell the others about this, es_pecially _Robin, otherwise I may never hear the end of it."

"Okay, I understand _that _much," Raven stated. "I just don't understand why you want _mouthwash_, or why you're brushing your teeth," she said trying to keep a level head. Guys don't just kiss a girl and then try to get the taste out of their mouthes afterwards. As far as she knew anyway.

"Alright, you know that freaky spider thing we were chasing earlier?" he asked, earning a nod from the mage. "Well… Apparently _he _was Kitten's ex and the reason she got Robin and I involved in the first place, and because I kissed _her_, by proxy I ended up indirectly kissing him too," he said as he visibly shuddered, accompanied by Raven when she connected the dots. "It isn't like I _tasted _any spider on her, and even if I did I wouldn't know it, but I guess it's just the mentality of knowing what I'd indirectly kissed that's bothering me," he stated, not noticing Raven's cloak slowly turning purple. "Kitten's a nice girl and all, but what I wouldn't give to just… clear my palette as it were," he said trying to find the right words, not noticing Raven going ramrod straight before suddenly relaxing, the mage sauntering over towards him with a smile on her face and a sway in her hips.

"Well why didn't you just _say_ so?" Raven suddenly asked in a sultry voice as she whirled the brunette's chair around. Before he could ask what she was talking about, she suddenly leaned forward and captured his lips with her own, one hand going to the back of his head while the other went to the armrest of his chair, holding him steady. The brunette's eyes widened as he felt the mage deepen the kiss, and his face turned a bright shade of red when he felt her tongue try and part his lips. After a few seconds of lip locking however, the purple-clad mage instead backed off, leaving him completely flustered. "There. Better?" she asked with a loving smile, Vent nodding dumbly not really knowing what to think. "Well, if you need any more _help_, just feel free to call me up. Hehehe," she giggled as she bound out of the room, a little sway in her hips before the door opened and closed behind her, leaving the aerokinetic to slump back in his seat.

_Di… Did Raven just _kiss_ me?_ he thought in surprise, feeling like his heart was trying to leap out of his rib cage. _Also… Why was her cloak purple? _he then asked himself with crossed arms. It could've been a trick of the light, but little did he know it was more complicated than that. _Man, I _really _need to schedule an eye appointment, _he thought as he got ready for bed, his face lit up like a traffic light.

* * *

><p>At the same time back in the hall, Raven's cloak had almost immediately bled back to blue when the door closed behind her, the mage's body freezing in place as she instantaneously retreated into the inner recesses of her mind. Getting to where she felt he pull from earlier, she came upon Happy's domain, pink as she remembered it before. At the moment three of her "Emoticlones" were present, being Happy, Love, and oddly enough Knowledge, and the two prior seemed to be talking animatedly with one another while the latter was adding bits in when she felt it appropriate.<p>

"Rae Rae! You decided to pay us a visit!" Happy whooped with a goofy grin, which to the "prime mage's" surprise closely resembled one of Vent's own.

"Not now Happy," the mage grunted as she started stomping forward as soon as her feet touched the ground, bypassing the pink-clad Emoticlone and headed straight for the purple-clad one. "Love! Just what do you think you were doing overshadowing me like that!" she demanded as she pulled the Emoticlone up from the pink beanbag chair she was sitting in by her collar.

"Why, whatever do you _mean_?" the loving mage asked cutely.

"You know _damn _well what I mean!" Raven growled with eyes narrowed. "What's the big idea overshadowing me and making me _do _that?"

"I'm just doing what _you _wanted to do," Love said cutely. "Envy's been over in the corner for the past hour just _ranting _about Vent going out with another girl," she said pointing to a light green-clad iteration of Raven, who at the moment was pacing back and forth in an inch-deep groove in the ground, grumbling to herself and almost on the verge of ripping her hair out. _"She's very touchy,"_ Love said shielding her mouth with her hand as though Envy wouldn't hear it.

"Green with envy. Ha, ha, _ha_," Raven grumbled sarcastically. "Don't distract me! What's the big idea making me do that?"

"Like I said, it's what _you _wanted to do," Love answered pointing a finger at her. "Remember, _I _am _you_, so it only makes _sense _that I'd like him since you _do_. Or is that not the _truth_?" she asked with her head tilted to the side.

"Well I… uh… ah…" Raven said suddenly becoming flustered, trying to deny the accusation only to find she couldn't.

"Why not go to your room and think things through," Knowledge said as she whirled Raven around and sent her off down the path. "I'm sure all you need is a little meditation to consolidate your thoughts."

"If I _could, _I wouldn't have _this _problem now would I?" she asked before finding herself back in the hall, deciding to head towards her room and get some sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimers:<br>I do not own the Three Stooges (Curly's reference). I do not own Kamen Rider Skull (Vent's attire reference).**

**Author's Notes:  
>Thought I'd flush out Kitten's character a bit, considering the fact that no one is <em>that <em>much of a bitch for no reason. Also, if you notice, Star doesn't get her laser eyes power until episode 20, yet she displays them in episode 19. Just thought I'd address that issue by not including them here, as well as the fact that Teen Titans Episode 20: Transformation, will be abridged (next time).**

**Until next time. When there's trouble, you know who to call.**


	20. Metamorphosis & Arachnids

**Suggestions for the Tournament of Heroes/Heroines, as well as suggestions for Don't Touch that Dial are still being taken. Such suggestions will be valid (and taken into consideration) up to before the release of the chapters in questions.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

><p>A week had passed since Killer Moth and Fang had been taken into custody, and Kitten put on probation. For his hand in creating the moths, as well as the earlier collateral damage, Killer Moth was to be held in the maximum-security prison rebuilt after the previous breakout. Fang for petty theft and the attempted release of Killer Moth's horde, was put in the same jail, though in a less secure location than the moth man himself. Kitten had only indirectly threatened the city, but a few choice words from a "bystander" in a fedora hat caused her sentence to be lowered to merely a probationary period with police checking up on her every once in a while. The solution wasn't perfect, but it was still better than nothing. At least the system was working, if even a <em>little<em>.

Of course, after three days, Fang had caused a prison riot and was able to escape in the ensuing panic. However, Killer Moth had remained detained, not even attempting to escape when he had the chance, so he had a few weeks knocked off his sentence for that. Of course when word got out that the spider-headed thief Fang had gotten loose, the people were urged to call the police if they spotted him. Though nothing had occurred in more than half a week, the guy had a spider for a _head_. It wasn't like he'd be hard to miss.

Meanwhile inside the Tower, things were quite normal, or at least as normal as things could get in a home occupied with superpowered teens. Thanks to a few choice pics, the Danger Room how had a new Endless Brawl feature, where those inside would repell an endless swarm of Killer Moth's "children" until they were KOed or yielded; very good for dealing with swarms of enemies in case anything like that were to occur in the future. There were also enough pics taken of Fang to add his simulate to the roster, and given the guy-thing gave the team the run-around the first time, they'd taken to practicing shooting at a rapidly moving target, working on shooting where the target _would _be instead of where he was _at_. Dr. Slim had even finished an advanced algorithm for making a "Scoring System" for the DR simulations, which would help show the successive slope of their training.

The crime busts and DR runs aside, the team took the time to do a little landscaping around the island since they had yet to do anything on that note. Robin took to cultivating the island's plant life that wasn't on the training course as to make the island presentable. After a little landscaping, Raven formed a waterfall out of a hidden spring from the island for both relaxation and meditational purposes. At the same time Vent and Cyborg worked together with their powers in tandem to make a small stretch of the island on the east side their own private beach. By the second morning after these projects were starting, Star had begun acting strangely for some reason. You'd _think _it was just "that time of the month" or "Mother Nature's little gift", but apparently Earth women physiology and Tamaranean women physiology was different in that par_tic_ular regard. Of course since Raven was still Terran, a human from the planet Earth _–considering humanoid beings existed elsewhere in the universe-, _the term originating shortly after the first _real _contact with an alien race on Earth from the Latin word for Earth "Terra", the blue-clad mage was still given the last week of every month off. If not only for the safety of those within the Tower, and _boy _did Beast Boy find out the hard way about that, but this was also done for the safety of the villains in the city.

Of course, a green sunhat was only the _beginning _of Star's strange behavior that day around a week ago. The next day she began wearing a red muffler around her neck. After that, she covered her hands up with oven mits. The day after _that_, she began acting strangely around the fridge and dinner table. Then came the _fifth _day of Star's behavior. She'd been accrediting her recent aesthetic changes to a Tamaranean trend "begetting foreign articles of clothing", though the team's inevitable concerns were held back when Plasmus was spotted at Murakami High School terrorizing the students at a football game.

* * *

><p>After arriving at the Murakami High football field, the team found Plasmus drinking from a sewer pipe he'd uprooted from the field, the Boy Wonder cutting him off with a trio exploding discs that wedged themselves in his chest, the explosions having torn his upper body apart into purple ribbons, splayed out in all directions like the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day. However, it quickly reassembled itself, a bit of banter thrown at the beast before Robin let loose the Titan's battle cry.<p>

"Titans! Go!"

From that point the Titans had to dodge a deluge of Plasmus' body, Robin and Vent weaving in and out of the slime in tandem before Robin leapt into the air of Vent's hands, stabbing his fighting staff through the amorphous villain's head, the weapon disappearing to its full length. Vent then blasted its stomach out with an air blast after the thing turned around, causing the thing to spit out only a piece of the retractable weapon. A huge fist then seized the Boy Wonder and flung him into the far goalpost, and would've caught Vent too had the brunette not used a replicated Rasengan to scatter the thing's hand when it came for him.

Cyborg then ran at the thing with his sonic cannon at the ready, blowing a few holes out of Plasmus' arms before blowing its head clean off. However, it didn't take long for the thing to pull itself back together, firing a gush of gunk from its chest ad catching Cyborg, knocking him into the goalpost beside robin. Sitting up and shaking some of the mess off his head, he snorted in a sharp breath, then let out a strangled cry before exhaling at full force, a torrent of slime flying out of both nostrils.

"I'm gonna be smelling that for a week," he groaned, Raven using her powers to wrap Plasmus up securely with the sewer pipe he'd been drinking from minutes ago. Before she could finish the job however, a tentacle from its back wrapped around her head to shut her up, throwing her towards the others by the goalpost. As Vent flew around, blasting the thing with air bullets and punching it full of holes with air blasts, the creature swinging wildly at him as the holes sealed themselves up, Beast Boy quickly called for a Beast Boy Blitz, which involved him turning into an armadillo, the Cyborg throwing him before he was driven back, the changeling turning into a rhinoceros, though Plasmus easily swapped him away.

"Orange-flavored bad guy?" Beast Boy pondered after being knocked into some tables, a swamp of Gatorade and purple ooze all around as he pushed a cooler off his head. "Gross, yet strangely refreshing."

At the same time, Vent tried cleaving the thing in two down the middle with a Kaze no Yaiba, only for the thing to use an overhead double axe handle on the brunette and send him rolling towards the others. For his own benefit, the brunette had kept his mouth shut the entire time, shaking the slime off of him before he took a breath, slamming his fists together and scattering the excess with a body-wide air blast like Aang from Avatar. As the team regrouped, Plasmus stomped over to them with the intent to continue fighting, only for a sudden rain of starbolts to end his advance and kick up a thick cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, a new crater had been made in the field, which was filling not only with sewage from the broken line from before, but also Plasmus' amorphous remains, the purple gunk bubbling as it slowly sloshed in.

"Boo-yah!" Cy and BB whooped.

"Way to go Star… fire?" Robin said noticing the recent _additions _to Star's attire. She now wore bright yellow galoshes that seemed a size too large, as well as a matching raincoat to boot, overall giving her a very… _unique_, look. The only part of her body that was visible was the upper half of her face.

"Interesting fashion statement," Raven said plainly. Though she saw the "zit" from before, none of Star's _other _changes had been brought to the mage's attention.

"Yeah, uh… nice slicker," Beast Boy added.

"Though I think _purple _would've been a better color," Vent said noticing Star resembled a banana far too much for his tastes. The Tamaranean always seemed like a _purple _kind of girl as opposed to yellow anyhow.

"Starfire… You've been acting kind of… strange lately," Robin said stepping over to her. "Is everything okay?" he asked, only for the girl to back off with a scared little moan, a loud rumbling from the center of the field drawing the team's attention. From the geyser of green sewage, making Vent wonder just what the school system was _feeding _these kids, a maroon geyser boiled out before forming a gargantuan humanoid figure. The thing's arms and legs were thinner than before now armed with claws, a row of bulbous green eye stretching up both shoulders and across the top of the thing's head, its mouth filled with _actual _teeth before it let out a long, grating scream.

"Ewwww!" Cy groaned.

"Just when you thought he couldn't get any _uglier_," Raven retched.

"Dude! That is _sick_! And not in the good way," Beast Boy added.

"Oh _yuck_, the thing's mutated even _further_," Vent retched at the sight. As for whatever had happened, the person who turned into Plasmus whenever he entered the land of the waking had just lost out on his last chance for a cure. If that were even _possible_.

"No matter how nasty he gets, he's just a monster. And like every other monster, he's _got _to go!" the Boy Wonder said without realizing the shock that Star got from his words. As the team rushed towards the evolved enemy, the Tamaranean girl let out a little moan as she buried her face deeper into her scarf. After a few minutes of self-pity, the others fighting Plasmus with everything they had, Plasmus' eyes began to swell like giant pimples before bursting, a torent of luridly tinted ichor flowing out. The others dodged out of the way, but Star was hit head-on, her hat rolling by her feet, while the rest of her hastily-donned outerwear having been blasted away by the torrent as well.

"Starfire?" Robin gaped from beneath Plasmus' foot, the monster itself and the others gaping at Star's appearance. She had a large pimple on her forehead, tusks on her neck, gnarled black and blue-stripped nails, scaly skin, and large hairy feet.

After that, well… All the jeering laughter from all those around, sans Vent who was finally piecing Star's strange behavior over the last week together, didn't help her situation, the once-beautiful alien girl feeling more and more like a monster with every second of ridicule. At the moment Vent released multiple Kaze no Yaiba attacks to destabilize Plasmus, Robin ran over to the alien girl as she tried to cover herself.

"Starfire! What's wrong?" he asked.

"I am sorry! I have… got to go!" she said lifting off.

"Starfire! Wait!" Robin cried out as the girl flew off into the heavens, the brunette growling furiously at the reforming Plasmus before he blew him away like Dr. Doom did to that military guy in the second Fantastic Four movie, quickly shooting into the sky after her in an attempt to catch up. As the city below turned smaller and smaller, the brunette found it difficult to rise higher, and he steadily got colder and colder, though he pushed himself as far as he could to reach his ailing friend.

"Starfire! Come on! Stop it! Stop- Ack! Gah! Achoo!" the brunette cried out as his hands went to his throat, the air becoming thin and ice crystals forming across his frame threatening to bind him in a freezing coffin. _Crap! Just like Iron Man, and unlike the MK II suit, I can't just turn a crank and solve the "icing problem" with moving plates, _he growled to himself as he headed back to Jump. _If we want to get Star back, the only option is in deep space. As for why she's as she is… I think space-puberty is the culprit, _he noted as he dropped out of the Mesosphere, this being the first time he ever tried flying so far up.

Of course, he never had a friend try to leave the planet before _either_.

* * *

><p>A half hour later, Plasmus' discombobulated remains had been scooped up by the biohazard squad and placed in additionally-reinforced containment cells, the monster's recent mutation in the presence of <em>sewage <em>warranting more research. However, the fate of the monster _-the brunette having learned that his human name was Otto Van Furth-_ was far from the team's mind as they prepared to launch the T-Ship into deep space in pursuit of their friend. It was at this time that the group sat in wait in the Tower's underground launch silo, the T-Ship mounted on a large pair of Cyborg-style booster engines by the launch platform. Given how far Star had gone, her tracker had lost its effectiveness, so they'd have to go in her general direction and hope for the best. The Justice League had been of some help and pointed out which quadrant of space the Tamaranean girl had headed, though the fact that it was a mostly-unexplored sector meant the team would have their work cut out for them.

"I can't believe we just _laughed _at her like that," Beast Boy sighed as he pressed his forehead to the railing of the catwalk, feeling lower than the time Star had taken to calling him Clorbag Varblernelk. Even now he _still _had no idea what it meant, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I completely lost my composure…" Raven sighed to herself. "I _never _lose my composure."

"Guys, we messed up. Big time," Cyborg lamented as he ran the final simulations. The T-Ship was designed for deep-_sea_, not deep-space, and if they were _really _going to go after Star, then they'd need to ensure everything was perfect. With how far the Justice League was spread out, they couldn't even afford to spare a single Javelin, which they were _really _wishing they had accepted the offer of taking a second-hand right about now, instead of having acted like stubborn kids saying they'd make their own ship. A Javelin would be far better-suited to an exploratory mission into deep space than a modified submarine ever could.

"Speak for yourself. _I _had finally figured out the source of Star's strange behavior for the past week. It was _you _guys who laughed… who drove her away," the brunette said hugging his knees to his chest, feeling _far _worse than the time Star was taken by the Centauri Police. Something Raven picked up on, and she didn't need telepathy to do so.

"Don't worry. We'll get her back. I promise," Robin said crossing his arms, his following sentence cut short when Vent's pocket began to ring _unlike _the T-Comm.'s theme.

"Hello?" Vent asked pulling out a black Razor cell phone, used only for "domestic" calls. "Oh hey… Wait, wait, slow down. _What's _going on?" he asked into the line as a worried voice yammered on from the other end, the others looking up from their sulking trying to figure out who Vent was talking to. "I see… Yes this is serious. I'll be by your place _within _the hour. Until then, keep every entrance point locked and barricade yourself in the basement. I'll be there for you as fast as I can," he said with a hint of worry in his voice before closing the phone.

"Who was that?" Beast Boy asked. This was the first time he'd actually seen anyone use a _real _phone around there without it being round and yellow. Or have a screen.

"Remember how that _Fang _guy managed to escape from jail and hasn't been seen since?" the brunette asked, earning nods all around. "Kitten just gave me a call. She said she saw Fang scuttling around her house and she's freaking out. I think _spider-head's _a bit miffed about being dumped."

"_Her_?" Raven hissed, but quickly calmed down knowing how essential this equipment was to getting their wayward friend back home. "How do you know this isn't just some trick? It all seems a little too convenient, her calling you away while the rest of us will be in deep space."

"Raven… She was scared, not _horror movie _scared, but real_-life_ scared," Vent said with a sigh, though didn't blame her for the suspicion considering she had to twist Robin's arm into escorting her to junior prom. "I know all too well how terrifying it is to have to hide, hoping you don't get found. If Fang really _is _back for revenge, then I have to protect her. Not just because I'm a Teen Titan, but because I'm a person too," he said clenching his fist. "Besides, since Star's currently in deep space, me hanging back here will serve more than one purpose," he added. "Plus, no one but _us_ knows we're going into deep space. Unless BB has a big mouth."

"Hey!" the changeling cried in protest.

"What did you mean by, _more than one purpose_?" Robin asked.

"For one, we don't know how long it'll take to find Star _and _get her back to Earth, so it'll be better for the city if at least _one _Titan is left back to maintain the illusion that we're all here. If word got out that the Teen Titans were all in deep space with no determined return date, pandemonium would spread within the hour and the crime rate would PIERCE THE HEAVENS," he said pointing to the heavens with a shout, the launch silo behind him turning orange with rays of sunlight shining down from above as a magnified image of his face appeared over his left shoulder, his pointing finger appearing over his right, before he sat down and the "sight gag" ended. "In addition, and in case you haven't noticed, I kind of need _air _in order to fight, and to do that I need to be within an _atmosphere_. Something the vacuum of space does _not_ have."

" . . . Alright Vent. You stay here, check on Kitten, and keep the city in one piece until we get back," Robin instructed, seeing the merit in the brunette's decision. "The rest of us will head out. Especially since we… kinda laughed at Star's appearance while you _didn't_," he said rubbing the back of his head.

"Just be sure to get me a cool _space _souvenir while you're out," the brunette said with a smile, brightening up the atmosphere around them despite the straits they were in. "Since I'm doing the work of four guys and two girls, at least _try _to find something nice for me to remember this experience by," he said heading to the elevator.

"So Cyborg, when will the ship be ready to launch?" Robin asked into his T-Comm., seeing as how Cyborg had hopped back onto one of the booster rockets during the conversation.

"Oh in about five minutes if you QUIT ASKING!" he said as his lips suddenly jumped out of the T-Comm. screen.

* * *

><p>A few minutes after leaving the launch bay, Vent was walking down the hallway towards his room. The T-Ship had been launched into space while he was making the elevator trip, if the shaking of the cabin and rumbling in the background wasn't evidence enough. Offering a silent prayer as the team searched for their wayward friend, the brunette continued towards his room with a plan forming in his mind.<p>

"The only way to nip this in the bud is if Fang's caught in the act. However, if Fang knows _I'm_ guarding Kitten, he'll be more reserved about going after her, and may end up doing something _stupid _the next time she's unguarded," Vent thought to himself as he entered his own hallway. "Most likely I'll need a disguise. However, not _only _will it be of someone that Kitten would be_lievably_ fall for, but it'll also have to be someone unassuming enough that Fang would be more willing to come out into the open," he said before getting to his room, heading for his closet to see what he had to work with in terms of a disguise. "Let's see…" he said pulling out his black hoodie. "The stereotype surrounding Goths is that they cut their wrists, so Fang won't attack me if he thinks I have a razor blade on me…" he said before hanging it back up, then grabbing a grey XBOX beanie. "Skateboarders are built to be tough, can take a beating, and can most likely use their boards as weapons… That only leaves…" he said as he methodically looked at all the odds and ends he got before for any and every occasion. "A_ha_, _here _we go," he said reaching forward.

Were this a TV show, it would've shown him reaching towards the camera before the Fade to Black effect set in.

* * *

><p><em>Come on Vent… I could really use your help right about now… <em>Kitten thought nervously from the panic room in the basement. Both outside and in, it was made of 100% Titanium Alloy, making it bulletproof, fireproof, blastproof. The door was built with an encrypted lock, and from an inch-wide hole in the floor it was connected to live security feeds from across the Walker property via real-time monitors. Motion detectors were also added, though that only worked on anything ground-bound.

Things had been… difficult at school since the junior prom. What with threatening the city with a push-button trigger, using extortion to get both Robin _and _Ventus to take her to the prom. Having the latter escort her was simply a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing too hoping to make Fang _doubly _jealous, of course that didn't help with the Robin and Ventus Fan Clubs at school giving her a hard time. All everyone had known about her family was that her mother was dead or gone, and her dad was in private practice and worked from home. After it got out that her dad was Killer Moth, not only did her peers keep their distance from her like she was some kind of freak, but her _teachers _did as well.

Of course, what the media seemed to have neglected explaining was that Killer Moth, AKA Drury Walker, wasn't _always _a moth man. He _used _to be human, just another villain in a costume, assisting the criminals of Gotham just as Batman helped the police, becoming recognized outside of his territory of Gotham, but falling short of world-wide fame. Of course, it had been so long since the move from Gotham when she was a little girl, that not _only _could she not remember _why _they moved north to Jump, but she could _also _not remember what 'Daddy's' face looked like either. As far as she was concerned, she was the daughter of Killer Moth, and while she had no idea as to why they moved to Jump or why he turned himself into a half-man-half-moth, she had always felt safe with him watching over her, even though he hadn't left the house since _becoming _Killer Moth.

Now however, with her ex-boyfriend gunning for her after the breakup, and her father locked away in a high-security cell, she was truly worried for herself now that there was no one to protect her. She'd contacted Vent by his "civilian line" before locking herself away, but that had been an hour ago, and considering it was a bit of a trip from the Titans Tower in the middle of the bay to her house, she couldn't help but wonder if Vent was going to show up at all. Right about now she was wishing she'd taken up her dad's offer on growing a personalized watchdog-moth for her to use, _just _in case something like this came up and he wasn't there to protect her. It could've been strong enough to take on an armored _tank _if she asked, but she was so adamant about _not _having a "freaky moth watchdog".

The next moment she was knocked out of her reverie by the doorbell going off, realizing she'd been ignoring the monitoring equipment while sulking. Going to the front door camera, she was able to catch a glimpse of someone _human _at the door. If there was one good thing about Fang having a spider for a head, it was that it was impossible for him to move about discretely, which made her wonder why the police hadn't found him yet after she called in the sighting. Shaking those thoughts off and grabbing the plasma whip her daddy gave to her for her thirteenth birthday, and _boy _was she glad he gave it to her now, she slipped the polished chrome-plated handle into her pants pocket and headed to the front door with careful steps. Spotting a mop of brown hair through the peephole, keeping her plasma whip primed, she opened the door to someone apart from who she was expecting.

The person at the door was wearing an off-yellow button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, tan-colored slacks, blue sneakers, and an olive green shoulder bag hanging at his side. His brown hair was held back in a ponytail with a few bobbing pins keeping his bangs out of his face, as well as a set of brass wire-frame glasses on his face; the only side not framed were the top sides, giving off the air of a scholar, or even a college professor. After a few seconds of trying to figure out who this guy was, her eyes met a pair of distinctive crimson orbs, and it was then that she realized that the person at the door _was _Vent, though in some form of disguise. The only question was, why?

"Hey Kitten, I'm here for our date," the disguised teen said extending his hand to her. Looking down, she saw a message scrawled across his palm, obviously meant for her.

**Alias: Alex, your new beau.  
>Setting up a trap. Play along.<strong>

Catching on quickly, knowing it was meant to be a secret message, she threw her arms around "Alex's" neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh _Alex_, I'm so glad you could make it!" she swooned as the two spun around, then realizing he said _date_, hoped she was wearing something better than her lounging clothes. At the moment she was wearing white and pink sneakers, shin-length black socks, a knee-length denim skort, a long-sleeved black T-shirt, and a white halter top with a pink-outlined kitten on it. "So, where are we going to go today?" she asked, trying to not shiver at the sound of Fang clicking his mandibles from a nearby tree. _Honestly how no one but me noticed him, I have no idea._

"Oh you know. Maybe a movie. Dinner at that new pizza place in town. Maybe a nice walk through the park," _Alex _answered just loud enough for the slightly-concealed Fang to hear. "So, you ready to go?" he asked, motioning for her to take his hand.

"Oh, of course!" she said taking his hand with hers, locking up with the keys she had in her pocket before hooking her arm around his. "So, how're we getting to town?" she asked, knowing the brunette was smart enough to not bring the _T-Car_ for an undercover mission.

"Borrowed my mom's _soccer van_," he chuckled as he rubbed the back of his ponytailed head, most likely to get the ink off his palm, as he motioned toward a nondescript white van parked around the corner; most likely an unmarked patrol vehicle borrowed from the JCPD. Pressing a button on the key's keychain, the doors unlocked, the brunette opening the front door for her, which she entered, crawling into the passenger's seat before closing the door behind him, though for some reason had left the window open.

_Vent… What are you planning? _she wondered as the brunette set his shoulder bag down.

"So Kitten, I heard that big _bug _guy got out of jail a while ago. You worried?" he asked a little louder than necessary.

_Of _course _I'm worried. I've got a psychotic ex-boyfriend breathing down my neck and- Wait, I see where you're going with this_, she thought with a grin, liking the brunette more and more by the minute. "Oh Alex, of _course_ I'm not worried. After all, I have _you _with me don't I?" she cooed as she nuzzled her cheek onto his. As he returned it, she wondered if it was all part of the act, but decided to live in the fantasy of him being hers, at least for tonight.

"Of course my little Kitten. As long as I'm around, I won't let that big bad bug _touch_ you," he cooed in return as he hugged her with one arm, the blond wondering if this was what it was like to have a _real_ boyfriend, and not just arm candy. "Come on. We'll head to the multiplex on 5th Avenue," he said baiting Fang with that last statement as the van drove out of the residential area. _Yeah, that's right you bug-faced freak. Follow the birdie, _he said spotting the spider-teen in his rear-view mirror.

For a supposed-stalker, he was doing a _very _poor job of hiding himself. However, given the fact that he had a giant spider for a _head_, and no one but _Kitten _had spotted him, maybe he was just a better stalker than given credit for.

* * *

><p>During the drive to town, Kitten noticed that the brunette had almost <em>constantly <em>fingered the flap of his shoulder bag during the trip, noticing that he hadn't let it out of his sight the whole time. Obviously he had _something _in there he could use to fight Fang with, like maybe a weapon, or an antidote to his paralyzing venom. Were her dad here, she didn't doubt that his insectoid physiology and resistance to poisons would keep him moving even _if _hit by  
>Fang's paralyzing venom darts. For Vent however, she was worried about what would happen to her <em>and <em>Vent if no one was able to help them. The two had made idle chat as they made their way into the city, though less for Fang but for themselves, Kitten sensing it was to help ease her nerves. Every time their hands touched, the girl couldn't help but blush slightly, wanting to hold his hand each time only for him to have go to back to the wheel a moment later.

After arriving in town, the two stopped by a fast food joint and grabbed a quick bite, the only rule the brunette had being not to make a mess in the van. Munching on a few fries, which the brunette was willing to share since she said she'd just nibble off of his food, the two then made their way to the multiplex on 5th Avenue. As predicted, Fang had been lying in wait for them, thinking he was some sort of genius for arriving beforehand as the two stepped up to the ticket booth.

"So, what movie do you want to see?" the brunette asked as the two looked at the listings above the ticket booth.

"Um…" Kitten hummed as she looked through the listings. "How about Tower Heist? I heard Eddie Murphy was on _fire _since he hasn't been in anything for a while."

"You know, I was thinking the exact same thing," _Alex _said with a grin before stepping up to the booth. "Two for the 7:20 showing of Tower Heist please," he requested as he passed the money forward, the cashier taking the money and handing back the change, as well as two tickets.

"Enjoy the movie," the man said as the two walked past, Kitten having linked her arm with the brunette's as they made their way into the theatre down the hall. Thankfully, there was no one from her high school there, otherwise she may have ended up being kicked out. In recent years, meta-humans had been persecuted against, and given who her father was, she doubted people wouldn't assume she was half-moth.

"_Hey, there's something I've been meaning to ask you,"_ _Alex_ said as they got a couple seats in the back of the theatre. _"Is your name _really _Kitten?"_

"_Well… No, it's actually Kathryn. Kathryn Walker," _she admitted, figuring she could at least give him her name.

"_Huh, so then your father must be _Drury _Walker,"_ the brunette noted, the girl's eyes widening in shock a bit at the knowledge of her father's _real_ name. _"Your dad may not be world-renowned, but the people of Gotham _still _knew his name pretty well," _he said with a reassuring smile. On the other hand, Kitten was about to ask if _he _was from Gotham, given his words, but when the movie started, the girl decided it would be better to just sit back and enjoy the movie.

* * *

><p><strong>1 Hour 46 Minutes later...<strong>

"I'll blow your face, _right _off your face," _Alex _cackled a few moments later after leaving the theatre, his near-perfect impersonating of Eddie Murphy causing the girl to giggle.

"Oh man, he was such a _trip _in that movie," Kitten giggled.

"I know right? That was one of the best movies I've ever _seen_," the brunette chuckled. "Next to Weekend at Bernie's of course. In my opinion, _that _is the best movie of all time."

"Huh, I'm not familiar with that title," the blond noted, wondering what kind of movie that was.

"It's a bit of an old one. Watched it during my stint in Smallville. The people are nice, and the town's quaint, but if you aren't paying attention, you'll drive right through it," he noted as he remembered his temporary stint in the little rural town. Right around the time he… well… it isn't _that _important to think about right now.

"So you've traveled before?" Kitten asked wondering just what kind of person Vent was. Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy had _some _information on them that could be looked up on the internet; whether it was true or not. Anyone could find out that Robin was Batman's sidekick until just recently. After the city-wide announcement by the Gordanians, it was obvious that Starfire was some kind of escaped prisoner. A few had recognized Beast Boy's uniform as the same kind used by the Doom Patrol, with some speculating he used to be a part of that group. For Cyborg and Raven, alot less was known. All anyone had on Cyborg was that he must've been in some kind of accident, as were _most _cyborgs. For Raven, the only snippet of information was she was some kind of dark mage, possibly from another dimension. However, there was next to _nothing _on the brown-haired aerokinetic. No prior appearances, recognized deeds, or anything to indicate where he'd come from. Fact was, him telling her he was from Gotham, _as indirectly as it was, _probably put her ahead of all the Vent FanGirls in her school.

"Yeah. You could say that," the brunette noted as the two walked down the street. Neither of them was hungry quite yet, so they'd take the time to just enjoy a nice walk through town, get something to eat. _However if Fang doesn't come out soon, I may have to take Kitten into protective custody. I just hope the police can get mobilized in time__, _the brunette noted to himself.

"So… I kinda heard Starfire had a big freakout after fighting against Plasmus," Kitten noted after a few minutes. "Any idea what that was about? I heard she was real _nasty_," she said before realizing she said that part out loud.

"Well…" he said slightly louder than necessary. "Considering that while Earth women gain curves and Earth men grow hair in odd places during _puberty_, the only reason I could think of for such a drastic physical change would be, in layman's terms, _space_-puberty."

_Must be for "damage control", _the blond thought seeing as how he was speaking a little louder than necessary, wishing she still had friends in school that would back her up like that. After junior prom everyone she used to be friends with were only capable of saying "We just grew apart." _But hey, if worse comes to worse, I can always give myself superpowers and join the Teen Titans, _she thought before responding. "Space-puberty huh? Makes sense I guess," she also said a bit loudly, hoping to help with the damage control. Star's jealousy of her taking Robin to the dance wasn't lost on her.

"That's the most likely case. I mean, _Superman's _an alien too, so maybe he started shooting _lasers _from his eyes or got X-Ray vision when _his_ space-puberty hit," the brunette noted, though not as loudly as before. Kitten was about to start up another conversation with him, but the _rat _in this case, finally took the bait.

"Hey you!" a voice suddenly called out, people scattering as the spider-headed teen, now wearing an orange prison jumpsuit that was pretty grungy, scuttled into the light from a back alley. "Get away from my girl!"

"Aagh! Fang!" Kitten cried in revulsion, having realized just how freaky Fang actually was. Most likely her infatuation with the bad-boy type made her overlook his faults, like oh, the giant spider that acted as his _head_!

"Fang, huh? You know, that's actually kind of funny, since I heard that not _only _did you break up with her, but when you tried getting back with her, she turned you down instead," the brunette returned with a smirk, the spider-teen clacking his mandibles loudly. "Awwwww. Did I make the itsy-bitsy-spider _angwy_?" the teen taunted, the people around gaping as the "guy in the glasses" stood up to the "freak". Both were true to an extent, though Vent had hoped his _Scholarly _guise would gain more notice as a whole than just the glasses.

"I'll get you for that you _freak!_" Fang hissed as he clicked his mandibles madly.

"Like the pot calling the kettle black," the brunette smirked before he scooped Kitten into his arms bridal style, a scared yelp leaving her lips as he ran off with Fang in hot pursuit. "Kitten! Reach into my shoulder bag and take out the contents! It'll be the first thing you touch!" _Alex_ said as he ran down the street, people and cars parting like the red sea as the two were chased by the spider-headed teen.

"You mean this?" she asked pulling out a flat piece of metal with curved edges and corners, about the size of a laptop but with a visible dividing grove in the middle. It seemed lighter than it should've and she recognized the outer coating as 100% Titanium Alloy.

"Yes! Now throw it!" he shouted as he dodged a glob of webbing, the girl giving him a confused look before throwing it down the street in front of them. Before it hit the ground however, it suddenly elongated from the middle, the object almost doubling in length, the middle body made of a thick transparent material with Cyborg's circuits inside. Not only that, but it seemed to be floating a foot above the ground by its own power. "Alright! Let's lose this guy!" he said hopping onto the board and leaning his weight toward the front, the board slowly accelerating before the brunette pulled something from the sling bag himself. "Here, you know how to use a blaster right?" he said passing her a chrome-colored **D-**shaped blaster; it was salvaged from one of Slade's robot commandos, but the outer coating had been changed out with a chrome finish, the handle lined with black rubber given an actual _person _would be holding it, and the barrel's core colored blue.

"I-I do!" Kitten returned taking the blaster. It was a little heavier than the ones she was used to though, since a heavy blaster would've messed up with a woman's aim. For that reason, blasters used by women were slightly lighter than their male counterparts.

"Good! Get onto my back and give me some cover fire!" he said pulling out one of Robin's grappling hooks from the sling bag as well. "I have a little surprise set up for bug boy, but we have lead him away from all these people first. Think you can handle that?"

"A-Alright!" Kitten said nervously before the brunette shot Robin's grappling hook into the back of a delivery truck, attaching to the bumper and gaining speed. Quickly wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist after crawling around onto his back, Kitten took aim at Fang with her blaster and fired off a few shots, the spider-teen leaning away from the shots before she suddenly felt herself tipping over to the right. The next moment one of Vent's hands went to hers, holding her in place as the truck turned right.

"Don't worry Kitten! I won't let you fall!" Vent said with a smile as he detached the grappling hook from the bumper, then fired it at another car being pulled left, Fang almost toppling over before he rushed out to follow them. "By the way, I gotta ask, and don't take this the wrong way but…" the brunette then stated as he swerved between the cars before turning a sharp right, Fang trailing behind them by a few meters. "Is Fang your _only _evil ex-boyfriend?"

"Don't worry, he _is_," Kitten huffed as she fired another blast, clipping the spider-teen's leg causing him to clutch at his shin. Honestly that human body of his was such an easy target. "I'm just glad you were at least being _sensitive _when you asked me. Ever since junior prom, people have been asking me that and comparing me to Ramona Flowers from Scott Pilgrim vs. The World."

"Well you're certainly pretty enough," the brunette noted, causing the girl to blush, though that went unnoticed by him. "Woah!" he cried as he had to make the board leap up in the air to avoid getting webbed. "I thought you said you could _handle _this guy!" he cried looking over his shoulder.

"It isn't _my _fault this guy keeps moving around!" Kitten shrieked as she fired more blue-colored blasts, only for the spider-teen to weave his lower body around the blasts. "Kyah!" she shrieked as she pulled Vent's body to the right, nearly making him roll off the board before a pink energy bolt shot through where the brunette's body was moments ago, the spider-teen having _somehow _gotten back his blaster.

"Oh come _on_! Where do you guys even _get _these things?" the brunette cried in protest before putting away the grappling hook. "Hold on Kitten. It's going to be a _bumpy _ride!" he said throwing his hands behind him, eyes glowing silver as did his hands before-

"EYAAAAAAAAAH!" Kitten screeched when twin tornados burst from the brunette's open palms, the two sent speeding ahead at near-highway speeds, leaving Fang in the dust and nearly hitting cars along the way. "Watch out!" she then cried as they were about to crash into a bank, which at the moment was in the process of being robbed.

"God I feel like the _maid_! Can't the city keep itself clean for like, for _ten _minutes?" the brunette asked as the two bank robbers ran out the door, just in time for Vent to toss his hoverboard up into his hand before delivering a flying double kung fu kick to their faces. When his feet found home, breaking the two's noses, the brunette suddenly used them as a springboard sending them rolling across the ground back into the bank vault, a person closing it just as the brunette and the blond shot away via grappling hook from the spider-headed teen, who was now scuttling across the side of a nearby building.

"How long until we reach this _surprise _of yours?" Kitten asked as the brunette took to being towed by the grappling hook again.

"Just about… Now!" the brunette said as he suddenly whirled Kitten around until her back was to his chest, the brunette tossing the board into his other hand and skidding across the ground after releasing the grappling hook, Fang scuttling around the corner to find a line of-

"COPS!" he cried seeing a half-dozen patrol cars set in a line across the street, twice as many of them raising their rifles. Before he could even flinch, they had begun pelting the spider-headed teen with beanbag rounds, the criminal's orange-clad body being tenderized before his spider legs lost their grip on the side of the building. A few moments later, he fell face-first onto a parked humvee with a loud- _**CRASH **_–The people winching visibly as the spider-headed teen slid off the hood before crumpling into a heap on the pavement.

"Argh! Who _are _you? How'd you get so many _cops _involved by yourself?" Fang cried as he nursed his aching face, a finger pointed incredulously at the brunette as his ears rung from hitting the two tons of steel face-first.

"Who am I?" the brunette asked pulling the bobbing pins and ponytail holder out of his hair. "I'm your worst nightmare," he said as he removed his wire rim glasses, the brunette's true identity hitting him and everyone around them like a ton of bricks. Even though he didn't really do that much to _conceal _it at least.

"You! You _tricked_ me!" Fang said, incredulously-pointing finger shaking wildly now that he realized just who he was dealing with.

"Really? I wear some glasses, change my hair, and call myself by a different name and _that's _enough to fool you to this extent?" he asked. "I didn't even wear _contacts _and you _still _fell for it."

"You led me into a _trap_!" Fang shrieked as spittle came from his mandibles. "Heroes aren't supposed to lay _traps_!"

"_Comic book_ heroes maybe," the brunette returned as the police behind him prepped their weapons if the spider-teen continued to resist. "However, as long as I do everything within the long arm of the law, any trap I come up with is fair game," he said motioning to the brave men and women behind him, who had received the message earlier to set up a line at that intersection, where _**"the escaped fugitive would be lead."**_ "Now, are we going to have to do this the _easy _way, or the _hard _way?"

"Up _yours, _you prick!" Fang hissed as he began firing paralyzing venom darts from his fangs towards the line, Vent tackling Kitten out of the way as the cops themselves ducked, the people panicking as the spider-headed teen fought off against a dozen cops and one Teen Titan. Behind the lines of cars, the Wilhelm scream in both male and female tones went off as the evasive fugitive gunned the police down one by one, their skin turned an ashy shade of grey as the toxin took effect, completely unable to move. Of course this didn't stop them from _trying_.

"Geez this guy just won't give _up _will he?" the now-revealed Vent asked. "And Kitten, _please _don't take this the wrong way when I ask, but what the _hell _did you _see _in _this_ guy?"

"I wanted a bad-boy boyfriend," the blond huffed, ducking just as a globule of webbing flew over her head. "That and because if I dated anyone my daddy approved of, he's just be some _stick _in the mud."

"Yeah. And we all know how well _that _turned out," the brunette sighed as he began patting down his pockets. "Crap. I left my special gloves at home."

"What's so special about them?" Kitten asked.

"Well for one I can _literally _snap off explosions," the brunette stated.

"Like Roy Mustang?" the blond asked, earning a raised eyebrow from the brunette. "What? I watch anime _too,_" she pouted right as Fang was about to creep up on her. Before the spider-headed teen could sink his fangs into the blond, the brunette quickly pulled out the D-shaped blaster before-

"Boom! Headshot!" he yelled as he blasted the stalker in the face, sending him reeling on his spindly spider legs, multiple eyes whirling around in his head as the shot found home right between the eyes. All six of them. "Kitten, stay back here, help the cops if you can. I got a _bug _to squash," he said vaulting over the hood of the car and towards his opponent. "Alright tough guy. Let's see what you can do when you don't have a bunch of _meat shields _lying around," he said spinning his blaster on his finger. Fang's response was to fire venom darts like a machine gun, the brunette rapidly firing his blaster and intercepting each shot the best he could, only to suddenly reel back when a venom dart caught his right hand, his blaster spinning across the pavement.

"Ha! Now you're as good as dead!" Fang smirked as the venom crept up Vent's arm, his skin slowly turning an ashy grey as it approached his elbow.

"Pheh. Not on my watch," the brunette said yanking his belt from his pants, quickly binding it around his bicep before pulling it taught. After a few seconds, the spread of the venom stopped, if only briefly, the brunette's right arm hanging limply at his side as the paralysis set in.

"Why so _serious _kid?" Fang asked pulling a switchblade from his pocket. "Let's put a _smile _on that face," he said stepping towards the brunette, only for-

"Stay away from my friend you spider-headed _creep_!" Kitten screeched irately as she swung her pink plasma whip at fang, the electrically-powered lashings sending the meta-human skittering backwards.

"Yeah! Way to go Kitten! Whoop his _ass_!" the brunette cheered watching the spider-teen get dominated. And not in the good way. "Now then..." he said looking to his paralyzed arm, feeling the numbness spreading across his shoulder. "Let's see if that Tamaranean Acupressure is self-treatable," he said as he got ready to bend his arm at an unnatural angle.

"What's the matter tough guy? Can't take it now that I'm fighting _back_?" Kitten asked as she masterfully swung her whip at Fang, the barbed end leaving scorch marks on his spider legs, one of which had curled up leaving him with only three to use.

"K-Kitty what's gotten _into _you?" Fang cried as he tried to dodge around the electrified whip, only to find it very difficult given his giant _spider _head.

"Better tastes in _men _that's what!" Kitten growled as the end of her whip nailed him between the eyes. Once more between all six of them.

"You know what? Forget you! You're coming with me whether you _like _it or not!" Fang said as he caught the whip around his left arm and yanked it away, stalking towards the retreating Kitten before-

"SHORYUKEN!" Vent said using the rising dragon fist attack, the spider-teen sent flying through the air before he eventually came to a stop.

"What the- How're you moving again?" Fang shrieked as the brunette clenched and unclenched his un-paralyzed fist.

"First thing I did I found the entry point," Vent returned as he continued to rub the back of his right hand where the venom hit the first time. "After that I started using my fingers," he said as he continued to rub his hand, the blond to the side blushing up a storm at the innuendo he was creating. "That and the venom didn't spread too far. Tamaranean Acupressure really does the trick."

"Tama_what_ean Acu_what_?" Fang asked.

"I think it's time I _squashed _this bug," Vent said ignoring the spider-teen's question as he grabbed a nearby newspaper, rolling it tightly before whapping the end in his hand.

"Ah! No! Not the newspaper! Anything but the-" Fang screeched before the- "UWA!AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

* * *

><p>An hour or so after the fight with Fang, Ventus and Kitten <em>-AKA Kathryn- <em>found themselves back at the latter's house. After the cops took Fang away and those who were paralyzed were taken off to the hospital, as well as a couple other things not worth mentioning now, the two stepped out of the limelight for a bit and dropped by a nice Italian cafe somewhere in the city. It went without saying that with all the fighting, running, and hoverboard-riding, that the two had built up quite an appetite. The brunette had gotten back into disguise so they could talk over some lasagna, and after some smalltalk, the two headed home, the brunette saying he'd drop the borrowed patrol car off on the way home.

"So... Uh... Thanks for looking out for me," Kitten said after Vent walked her to the door. Now that people knew she had a _plasma _whip, no one would be messing with _her _again. Of course that didn't mean she didn't enjoy the company.

"My pleasure Kitten."

"Please, call me Kathryn."

"Kathryn. Beautiful name for a beautiful girl," the brunette returned, getting the blond to blush a bit.

"Well... I guess I'll see you later," Kitten said unlocking the door.

"Feel free to call if you need me," he said pulling out his cell phone.

"Sure, I will..." Kitten said before leaning up to the brunette and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll see you later," she said with a wave before shutting the door behind her.

"Yeah... You too..." Vent returned as Kitten shut the door behind her, a slight blush on his cheeks before he headed back to the borrowed car. _It wasn't as much as Raven's, but what's this weird _feeling _I keep getting? _he asked himself as he fisted his shirt, feeling his heart beating against his ribcage like a piston. _Maybe I'll find the answer on the internet or something, _he thought as he hopped into the car, about to start the engine before stopping. "Hm. I'll probably need to make myself _street_-legal too. Wouldn't want to be setting a bad example," he said removing the pins and holder from his hair, setting the glasses to the side as he headed to the JCPD.

* * *

><p>The following morning Earth's spatial coordinates, the T-Ship had just entered the Solar System and was making its way back towards home. The team had arrived within moments of saving Starfire from being devoured by a massive Cironielian chrysalis eater, and after climbing out of her chrysalis, Star discovered she could now shoot laser beams from her eyes, giving her another powerful weapon if she ever found her arms bound. Beast Boy made a comparison between her and Supergirl given the nature of their powers, who Starfire then asked about. Telling her that she was Superman's cousin, she then asked who <em>that <em>was, showing just how far she had to go in Earth customs. Beast Boy was almost _ecstatic _as he regaled Star on all the top-tier heroes, as well as the Doom Patrol.

As the T-Ship passed the ring of Watchtowers surrounding the globe, the Teen Titans were given a clear route back to Jump City. Given the fact that Cy reinforced the T-Ship for atmospheric re-entry, the group had nothing to worry about, though even if that wasn't enough, Raven's powers would be of plenty use, and if that didn't work, the Justice League would at least be able to step in since this was quite literally their front yard.

"Ah, home sweet home!" Cy whooped as the beautiful blue and green marble called Earth came into view. "You know, before I met all of you, I would've _never _thought I'd go into space, _or _get to see good ol' terra firma from up here."

"Yes, it is… nice," Raven noted softly. Sure she's seen pictures of the Earth from books, but they've got nothing on the real thing, what with the gentle curvature of the earth, the swirling clouds, and the contrast between green, yellow, brown, and blue. Seeing all this beauty however, caused a pang of guilt to well up in her heart.

"Oh, I do hope Ventus has not hurt himself while protecting the city," Star said worriedly. "Also, I hope he likes the _souvenir _I brought back," she said holding up the rose quartz-colored shard of crystal she had used as an impromptu mirror. After hearing about him staying back but asking for a souvenir, Star chose to offer _that _to him.

"Ah, I'm sure he's fine," Robin said from the helm. _After all, he _was _able to fight me on equal terms. Now I know for _certain _he's had prior training._

"Hey, let's see what's on the tube," Beast Boy said as the T-Ship passed by a few satellites, the screen filling with static for a few seconds before landing on the opening channel.

"-criminal thief known as Fang was taken into custody some time last evening after Teen Titans member Ventus, AKA Vent, lured him into a trap using both himself and the thief's ex-girlfriend, Kitten Walker, as bait," a news reporter spoke out, the others immediately pulling the audio up on the free screens. Something Cy added in case there were long trips. "The thief has been apprehended, and in addition to the theft charges placed on him by the jewelry store on Walter Street, Fang is now being charged with additional charges of assault, on police officers resisting arrest, and stalking. No permanent damage had been done, though the brave men and women of the JCPD are still experiencing some stiffness."

"Huh. Looks like Kitten _was _serious about Fang stalking her," Cy noted, a video of Fang being loaded into a van being played. This time around however, he had a muzzle on his face, as to keep him from _spraying _it instead of _saying _it. "Why does he have bandages on his eyes though?" he asked seeing as how the cephalothorax part of his head was completely wrapped up, bags of ice visible.

"Kitten Walker has supposedly begun filing a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, and post court hearing, the request will most likely be put through in lieu of the recent stalking charges pending," the reporter noted. "In other news, Teen Titan Ventus was spotted using a hover board even though he is capable of flight, and when asked about why he was using one, the teen in question answered-"

"I used the hover board for the same reason people take a bus when they're only going three blocks. Because it's convenient," the brunette noted, the news channel going to commercial a few seconds later.

"Well… _He _seems to behaving fun," Beast Boy said jokingly, though noticed Raven meditating in her cockpit.

"Let's just focus on getting back to the hangar," Robin stated as he adjusted the ship's angle for re-entry. Didn't hurt to be too cautious.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Avatar the Last Airbender. Do not own TTGL ("PIERCE THE HEAVENS" quote and Epic Pointing). Do not own Tower Heist. Do not own Weekend at Bernie's.**

**Author's Note:  
>I'd originally intended on <em>only <em>abridging this part of the story, but thinking how well this could work out in terms of character development (Kitten/Kathryn Walker), this idea was simply too good to leave alone. Especially since both "factions" would be facing spiders of their own. Anyway, while the episode this chapter was based on was highly abridged, I do hope it was an enjoyable read. I certainly enjoyed **_**writing **_**it. Especially with Vent almost having the "icing problem" Iron Man ran into during his first movie. However, I'm no meteorologist, so I'm not quite sure which _part _of the atmosphere the "icing problem" began, so if I did anything incorrectly, please let me know.**

**As for the Highschool in Jump City being called Murakami High, the reason behind that is because it was named after the series' Creator, Glen Murakami. Some of you may or may not recognize his name from works like _Batman Beyond_, _Ben 10: Alien Force_, _Ben 10: Ultimate Alien_, and _Beware the Batman_.**


	21. The HIVE Academy Deception

**Yo, sorry about not updating in so long, but thing's have been busy on my end, what with finals, and of course there's the holidays coming up and my new XBOX Elite that I'll only be able to play for so long. But anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. This one's a bit of a doozie, and I mean a DOOOOOOOOOOZIE, so I hope it's well worth the wait. I've got the next chapter lined up as well, so I hope you enjoy my dual-update. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>It was late at night, and the Bank of Pérez was quiet, as all the workers had left. Being one of the premier banking agencies in the city, Pérez not only held the city's gold reserve, but also a portion of the safety deposit boxes and saving accounts for people from all across the city. That used to not be a problem, since they had the best security money could buy, and had 247 guard. Or should I say _had _24/7 guard, since the place was currently empty. Or so you'd think.

"Move it, slug-crunchers! We're running outta time!" Gizmo cried out as Jinx eyed a rather large jewel in one hand.

"I could use a _hand _here!" Mammoth cried as he tried to lift an entire _rack _of gold bars. Yeah… not really one of his smartest moves, given the thing weighed _several _metric tons, and only a guy like Superman could actually lift the damn thing.

"How 'bout a _foot_?" someone asked, the oversized thief looking toward the vault door, only for a metal foot to paste itself across his chin, propelling him across the full length of the room and crashing into the far wall, Gizmo and Jinx looking up to see the Teen Titans standing at the vault door.

_Damn. We must've tripped one of the silent alarms or something, _Jinx huffed as she stuffed the chain around her neck into her pocket. No use in giving that up just because it got yanked off in a fight. And really, only someone stupid wouldyank it off and discard it for no reason.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as the six charged, Jinx and Mammoth charging forward. Off to the side, Gizmo pressed a button on his chest control panel before several holographic doppelgangers appeared all around him, which began flying in all directions like insects and dodging attacks from Robin, Starfire, and Ventus. As Robin swung his staff at one and Hawk-BB flew after another one, Mammoth suddenly somersaulted in to throw a killer punch at Robin, who flipped out of the way in the nick of time. However, the impact on the concrete floor sent a shockwave towards Raven, who put up a shield to defend herself. When she took it down however, she got caught by one of Jinx's hexbolts and was sent flying. Intercepting her in mid-air, Vent caught her, a grin pulling at his face before more hexbolts were sent at the ceiling, the brunette blasting the bulk of the debris back into the air for a few moments before flying off, Cy firing his sonic cannon to back them up.

"Three raids in one week? Man, this is seriously getting old!" Cy shouted as he ran to avoid getting brained by a falling stone.

"The HIVE Academy's new leader must be up to something," Robin said smashing some debris with his staff before dodging a punch from Mammoth.

"And wouldn't _you _like to know?" Jinx asked as she prepared a new hex, a starbolt to the back laying her out.

"Yes, we _would_!" Star said strongly, eyes and hands ablaze as she began hurling Tamaranean knuckle balls, the pinkette nimbly skipping away. At the same time on a balcony up above, Gizmo was digging through safety deposit boxes as the others fought, having escaped notice with the use of his holo-clones.

"Sweet! This crud should be worth a _mint_!" the tiny terror cackled.

"Yo. Mind if I borrow these?" Vent asked from over Gizmo's shoulders before he began grabbing at the front of his jumpsuit.

"Ah! Hey! Quit it you gaz-muncher!" Gizmo cried as he flailed around, finding his chest bare a few seconds later, and his suit'scontrollers in the hands of the wind-spewing scum-licker. Feeling twin jets of hot air on the back of his head later, he warily turned around to see a green and black velociraptor staring at- **"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" **"CRUUUUUUUUUUD!" the tiny terror cried as he made a break for it, finding it _considerably _difficult without the use of his tech. _I _really _need to come up with a better system, _he thought, this being the _second _time this has happened.

Thankfully, or at least not for Beast Boy, a section of the balcony railing blew up in his face, the dust clearing to show him dazed and drooling amid the wreckage, Mammoth idly tossing a small stone in his hand. A moment later however, he was rammed away by Cyborg and slid toward the vault door. Before he could do more however, a powerful magnetic force exerted itself on Cyborg, pulling him up to the ceiling to show a large horseshoe magnet attached to the ceiling.

"Oh, you did not just do WHAT I THINK YOU DID!-!" Cy roared out, face bright red and veins throbbing all around him.

"Check it out! The world's dumbest _magnet_!" Gizmo cackled from his place on Mammoth's shoulder.

"Says the guy who got control-jacked _twice_! Hahahahaha!" Vent cackled swinging the controllers over his head like a bolo before letting them fly, the hardware twirling through the air before it wrapped Gizmo up, Mammoth catching him and tucking him under his arm like a Christmas ham before he ran off.

"Yo!" Cyborg roared as he got back to the floor, magnet still on his back as the three of them ran off. "_No_body pulls a science fair on me and gets away with it!"

"It's okay, Cyborg," Robin said holding them back, the HIVE getting away with nothing of real value that night. "We'll see them again, sooner then they think," he said pulling out his Comm., showing that the bug he planted on Jinx was doing its job. _Really, I'd think by now people would actually check themselves for those kind of things. Of course _I _didn't so… _Robin trailed off to himself.

* * *

><p>The following morning back in the Tower, after everyone had gotten a good night's sleep <em>–something Robin was secretly thankful to Vent for after "disposing" of Puppet King-<em>, the group was huddled in front of the main monitor in the Ops Center, a close-up on the map showing a HIVE insignia flashing on the screen.

"Tracking device?" Beast Boy asked, as though that weren't already implied. "Veeeery sneaky. Looks like the HIVE's secret headquarters isn't secret anymore."

"So, what's our next move?" Raven asked boredly. If three HIVE kids were bad, even _after _the advances they'd made since their first defeat, she knew a whole _school _of them would be worse. Going in as they were, with no intell, would be like trying to peel an onion with a chainsaw. To bring the place down, they needed a surgeon's precision.

"We need to know what they're planning first. Otherwise we could walk right into a trap," Robin said lacing his fingers together.

"Do I hear an undercover assignment coming on?" Beast Boy asked with ears a-burning. "Lucky for you guys, I happen to be a master of disguise," he said as he transformed into a monkey, kangaroo, and then a mongoose. All of which were-

"Green," Raven said plainly.

"Yeah, a green mongoos will _really _blend in," Vent said with a voice laced in sarcasm.

"Sorry, Beast Boy. I was thinking of someone with a slightly _better_ disguise," Robin stated.

"What're you gonna do?" Beast Boy asked. "Dress Cyborg up like a washing machine?" he asked thumping Cyborg's shoulder, the titanium teen falling backward to the floor a moment later stiff as a board, causing Beast Boy to scream and leap straight up, clinging to it in the form of a small lizard.

"That isn't me," Cy said as he came into the room, standing next to the Cyborg laid out on the floor. "That's my fully robotic _replacement_," he said as he made it stand, a wireless XBOX 360 controller with an attached screen at the top in his hands. "Not _nearly _as charming, but he can bench-press a bus."

"With or _without _people in it?" Vent saw fit to ask.

"A normal afternoon's payload, give or take the heavy-set tourist," Cyborg answered.

"Boo-yah!" Robot Cyborg suddenly _boo-yad'd_ before his head popped off on a spring. If it were a semi-serrated length of metal, it would've been like a Rock'em Sock'em Robot.

"He… still has a few bugs to work out," Cy said rubbing the back of his head.

"No fair! I may be all _green_, but _he's _half metal! How come _he _gets to go?" Beast Boy asked after coming down from the ceiling.

"Because _I _have a new toy," Cy answered, practically beaming before he brought out two chrome-plated rings, blue stones in each one. He then pulled his arms apart before banging his fists together knuckle to knuckle, a great flash fo light issuing from the rings, causing everyone to shield their eyes. Once the glare cleared away, they all saw a largely-built brown-skinned teen with blue shorts clad in a white muscle shirt, topped with a bald scalp. It only took a few seconds, but the rings on the figure's fingers confirmed that it was-

"Cyborg?" Beast Boy gaped.

"A holographic generator!" Star awed.

"Woah. You look-"

"-unplugged," Raven said finishing Vent's sentence, honestly quite surprised by the change.

"Nice work. If I didn't know better, I'd think you were just _normal_," Robin said in awe.

"Um… thanks," Cy said a bit surprised, Vent tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose at Robin's lack of tact before something dawned on him. Dashing to the kitchen, he grabbed a refrigerator magnet and tossed it in his hand a few times before chucking it through the air. "Think fast!" he called out, Cy raising his arms before the green monkey magnet found home on his arm with a low _**-clang-**_. "Just like I thought. You look human, but magnets will still get to you," the brunette noted, the magnet eating away at the holographic field on the teen's arm, revealing what lay underneath.

"It isn't perfect, but it still works," Robin said with crossed arms. "Cy just needs to stay away from anything that'll disrupt the cloaking field, and he'll be good to go."

"Maybe, but somehow that isn't good enough," Vent said crossing his arms and closing his eyes, adopting a thinking pose before his eyes snapped open, a **! **mark appearing above his head before he said- "I'm going to HIVE Academy too!" he suddenly declared catching everyone off-guard. "If Cy here gets caught, he'll need someone to back him up, and even if it doesn't come to that, networking will still be important if this infiltration mission is going to work. It means the difference between success and failure in these kind of things."

"Um, while I'm glad you're showing this much enthusiasm, you don't really have that much of a disguise you can use," Robin stated. "Plus your powers would be too recognizable."

"Hey, throwing wind around isn't the _only _thing I'm good for," Vent returned as he pulled out a short staff, extending into a full-length bo staff a second later.

"Hey! That's my bo-UWAGH!" Robin said looking to his belt, only to be cut off as the length of metal _literally _knocked his feet out from under him, the end pointed at his nose a moment later as he lay flat on his back.

"Now then, you were saying?" Vent asked, an unfamiliar edge in his voice, almost like he'd "shifted" personalities again. This one was a snide, scathing, but skilled and rightfully-confident. Sort of like an Anti-Robin if you will. Like from one of Beast Boy's crackpot theories.

"I was still saying your features are too recognizable. And Cyborg doesn't have another pair of those rings for you to use," the Boy Wonder returned as he got to his feet. _I didn't even feel him reach for my belt. How'd he get to my short staff? _he asked feeling the empty slot on his belt.

"And who says we need _technology _to solve all our problems?" the wind-manipulater asked lacing his fingers behind his head. "I was thinking more along… the _arcane_," he said as his eyes drifted to Raven, a smile on his face as all eyes landed on her, the purplette looked to the sides before saying-

"Who, me?" she asked pointing to herself, seeing as how she was the one he was referring to.

* * *

><p>"You want me to change the color of your eyes and hair?" Raven asked. "With <em>magic<em>?"

"If you can," Vent returned as he and Raven walked towards the latter's room. "Those holographic generators may be useful, but one EMP burst or even a _fridge magnet_ and he's hosed. Magic on the other hand is something out of technology's hands to manipulate or cancel, so this will be a better solution. If there _is _one there is."

"I suppose that's true," Raven returned. The only way to effectively fight magic was with other magic, or to directly affect the magic's medium, be it a person or object. Jinx's magic was the only confirmed factor at the moment that could cancel out whatever changes were made, but since it was a school, it was unlikely one student would actually _attack _another. Maybe get in a scuffle, but as long as the brunette didn't do anything to earn her ire, that wouldn't be a problem. "I have something in an old grimoire of mine. Something to change a person's appearance short to long-term. At the least, it'll be that way for a week. Give or take a few days."

"Any longer in HIVE and Cy and I may become actual _students_," the brunette chuckled as he now stood before Raven's opened door. "Are you letting me in your room?" he asked, since _no one _went into her room.

"It's fine, and besides, this is where I keep my ingredients," Raven said simply, the brunette following her into the room, door closing behind her as Raven leafed through her shelves until finding a book with what looked like an alchemic circle on it. "Take a seat. I'll have to brush up on this otherwise the effects could be disastrous," she then said, the brunette sitting on her bed as she walked over to her desk and grabbed a few pieces of chalk, her mind absorbing the formulas in the grimoire as she willed the chalk to form a perfect circle on the floor. After reading through the pages for a few seconds, a satisfied smirk graced her lips as she closed the book, adding designs into the center of the circle, these being plant-based. "Alright. This spell is partially alchemic. The circle shouldn't be disturbed, so why don't you lay on your back and wait until I return. I need to get a few fresh ingredients," she said as she vanished into the shadows, Vent nodding as he tentatively walked over to the circle before laying down on his back.

_Hmmm… The coloring of my eyes is pretty rare. I guess _that'll _have to change first, _Vent thought to himself. _I'll also have to change out my hair, just for good measure. The less relatable I am to… _me_, the better._

"Hi there!" a voice suddenly said, causing the brunette to jump up and see… Raven in pink.

"Um… Hello Raven. Why the pink all of a sudden?" the brunette asked.

"Cause, it's my favorite color," the girl said happily.

"Wait… You're Raven's happiness aren't you?" he asked, the pink-clad girl nodding. "How about I just call you Joy. Better than the name of a winged cat, am I right?"

"Aye!" the pink-clad mage returned, making Vent wonder if that was coincidence or not.

"So um… Aren't you supposed to… I don't know… be in Raven's _head_ or something?" he asked, since Raven had _just _left to get ingredients for... whatever it was she'd be doing to him.

"Raven Prime subconsciously releases a constant stream of magic from her body. With this place saturated in it, it is possible for us to gain corporeal form, if only for a time," another voice said, Vent turning around to see a yellow-clad Raven with glasses. "Hello, I am Raven's knowledge. We haven't met before."

"Yeah. Only ones I met were Joy, Lonely, and Brave," Vent returned. "Speaking of which, how are they?"

"Why don't you ask me yourself, hahaha," Brave said coming out of nowhere, wrapping and arm around his neck and giving him a noogie.

"Okay where are you all coming from?" he then asked.

"We all… come from the mirror," the grey-clad mage then said, though with a ghost of a smile on her features as she held up the demonic mirror, glowing red with black concentric rings. "It's only for a time, but we'd like to talk to you about something."

"Of course. What is it?" Vent asked.

"Well, Raven Prime won't admit it, but she's genuinely worried about you," Lonely stated. "You've always been there for her, and aside from Star, you might be the best friend she's ever had. So please, come back safely," she explained, feeling the brunette's hand on her head ruffling her hair a moment later, causing her to flush pink for a half-second.

"Hey, don't worry you guys. I'm not going anywhere," Vent said with a smile. "So, is that all you needed to say?"

"For the most part, yes," Knowledge stated adjusting her glasses. "Also, try not to tell Raven about us being able to gain corporeal form, otherwise she may try to suppress her emotions _further_."

"You know, all of you guys _fused _with Raven when that big troll guy was running around her mindscape. Why not be like that all the time?" he asked. "I mean, you're all parts of a greater whole. If you're all together, wouldn't that mean she could feel emotion without fear of a magical runoff? Or something?"

Knowledge was about to say something against that, but shut her mouth when she realized the brunette had a point there.

"I will have to think on it," Knowledge said. "But you have to understand, the mindscape and the real world are run by different rules. In there was only a representation."

"But you _could _fuse with her in increments couldn't you?" he asked. "You know, Joy and Raven _Prime _could merge for a bit so she could laugh when she wants to, and Brave could join in when she needs a little courage."

"Heck yeah!" the dark green-clad mage whooped.

"Raven Prime is coming back," Knowledge stated as the four Emoticlones headed for the mirror. "Remember, do not tell her about us just yet. We will try and work something out on our own."

"Okay you guys. Take care," Vent said as the four vanished into the mirror, Raven coming into the room a moment later from another portal.

"Who are you talking to?" she asked, carrying a box in her hands.

"Myself," he answered plainly. "So, what ingredients did you get?"

"I picked up a few roses for you to choose from. The book said either a rose or any other flower would work, but I went with the roses for the best results," Raven stated, a little nervous about using magic to change a person's appearance.

"Well let me see," Vent said as Raven handed him the box, the brunette opening it up to see the tops of differently-colored roses within. There were varying shades of red, white, pink, yellow, orange, black, and blue. "Maybe yellow for my hair, blue for the eyes," he said after looking them over.

"Alright," she said pulling out a two vials of water from her cloak, along with a basin. Taking the blue rose, she plucked the petals before grinding them up with her magic, funneling them into one vial before capping it and shaking it, the mixture glowing white for a moment as she chanted before the mixture turned a cerulean color. "Here. Drink," she said holding it out to him, the brunette nodding as he uncapped the mixture and downed it all in a single gulp. For a moment nothing happened, but then his eyes suddenly clamped shut, a slight burning sensation taking place before they opened, crimson eyes turning purple before the red bled out in the form of tears and his eyes cerulean. "Are you alright," she asked as she wiped the reddened tears from his eyes, which closely resembled blood. She didn't want to have hurt him with her "magical makeover" as Star would so aptly put it were she there.

"Yeah… Just a little stinging I guess. Must mean it worked," he answered blinking his eyes a few times. "Now, how do I change the hair?"

"Place your head in the basin," she said placing the grey basin on the floor at the top of the circle, Vent adjusting himself so his head touched the bottom of the basin, circle beneath him glowing as Raven poured the second vial into it before she began plucking the yellow rose petals and began tossing them into the water around him, a serene look gracing his features as he allowed his eyes to close. Chanting some more, the circle beneath him began to glow, and the rose petals dissolving into the water turning it golden. After a few seconds, the water had become clear once again, and Ventus' hair, now spread out beneath him, was colored a bright yellow like the sun. "There, it's done," she said waking him up. When the now-blond turned to face her, it was as though she were looking at an entirely different person. Must've been the reason he wanted to use magic for his disguise instead of science. After all, an EMP blast may fry Cy's rings, if not all of him, but magic was mostly unaffected by tech weapons.

"How do I look?" he asked running his fingers through his hair.

"You look… nice," Raven answered, feeling her cheeks heat up for a few seconds.

"Alright," he said getting up and looking in the mirror, taking note of the changes present. "Hmmm… Raven, do you think you could cut my hair too?"

"You want me to cut your hair?" Raven asked quizzically.

"Yeah. If I go in blond with shoulder-length hair, I may still be recognized despite my eyes being cerulean. That's why I'm going the whole 9 yards," Vent stated with crossed legs. "Besides, I trust you completely. I know whatever style you cut it in will be fine."

"Very well then. I'll do my best," Raven stated, a little proud that the brunette had placed this much trust in her. Maybe it was because of their bonding during the Red X incident, or maybe their time together in her mind. With the Azar monks, she had been taught not only about the arcane, but stuff like cutting one's own hair with a degree of accuracy due to their lifestyle. To cut Ventus' would be simple, and as she cut the blond lochs off, she noticed them turn back to brown, showing how effective the magic actually was, yet at the same time wasn't. "Vent… Be careful," she said as she chopped away at the hair around his ears.

"Don't worry Raven. I'll come back. I promise," he said with a grin, the mage nodding as she continued to cut his hair.

* * *

><p><strong>Undercover – Day 1<strong>

The following morning, HIVE Academy-students of various forms were carrying lunch trays and eating lunch. The school was mostly yellow hexagonal panels with black outlines, the HIVE Academy emblem presented proudly on the wall. Cyborg, currently incognito, was now donned in a dark gray T-shirt and black pants, as well as steel wrist bracelets and belt, a matching headband that angled down to touch the bridge of his nose on his head. At the moment Cy was carrying a lunch tray and trying to act incognito, only to suddenly find everyone there _–a Bee-themed girl who he thought may've been the school mascot included- _staring at him. Hoping to salvage the situation and hopefully blend in, he quickly plastered a big friendly smile across his face before inhaling the food's aroma.

"Ahh, sloppy joes. Just like the mad scientist who _created _me used to _make_!" he said, the other HIVE students giving him another funny look before turning back to their own conversations. Sighing to himself at now having bowled himself out on day one, he found an empty table and sat down. He was about to lift the sandwich to his mouth, however-

"You're in my seat," a deep voice said, the dark-skinned teen turning up to see none other than Mammoth and Gizmo standing around him. He hoped his disguise was effective as he thought it was, otherwise _they _would likely be the first ones to bust him.

"Hey, newbie. This is _our _table. What do you think you're doing here?" Gizmo asked, giving off no indicator he saw through the disguise.

"He looks familiar," Jinx said coming into the conversation, Cy fearing the worst before she said- "Did you go to Darkway Prep?"

"What's your name, punk?" Mammoth asked.

"Probably something _lame_," Gizmo chuckled. "Oh, let me guess. Snot Man? No, wait. Captain Nose Picker."

"Do you even _have _any powers?" Jinx asked.

"I'm hungry," Mammoth said taking the sandwich out of the disguised Cy's hand before downing it in one bite. "Get lost!"

"Yeah, scum. Take a hike," Gizmo said as he slid a silver disk with his insignia on it under his chair, the disguised teen blinking in surprise as it began to beep, suddenly launching him toward the ceiling by a spring-loaded boxing clove. Crashing down onto a table, he slid along its edge until he fell off the end, everyone else laughing themselves silly over the prank, Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx the most so of all. Getting to his feet, the disguised Cy's face showed all the emotion of a plate of cream corn _–which was ironic since that was what was for lunch that day-_, a soft snarl and throbbing forehead vein bringing that stoicism to a very quick end before he brought his rings together. In a roving flash of light, his flesh began to rapidly turn to stone, the rings and steel accessories remaining in place, as did his black pants and blue boots. Before anyone could gawk, his fist came down onto the end of the three's apparent table, shaking it like a tidal wave and causing the whole thing, as well as the chairs, to topple. However, the shockwave didn't stop there, but continued across the ground past the table's end after it met the floor, blowing out a piece of the column in one corner of the room. Seeing as how they were all struck dumbfounded, the disguised Cy decided to introduce himself, his voice with a new and menacing edge to it.

"My _name _is Stone, and it looks like _you _need to find a new table," the now-known Stone said coldly, Gizmo laughing nervously since he'd pretty much just cheesed off a guy who could match Mammoth in terms of strength.

"Not bad," Mammoth said crossing his arms, cementing Gizmo's worries.

"Let's just see how he does in combat practice," Jinx said rolling her shoulders as she placed her hands on her hips, the left side of her mouth curled up in a smile.

"Yo, rock head. I was about to sit there," a voice said from behind him. Turning around, the stone-bodied Teen then asked-

"Who're you?" _Stone _asked with a cocky grin

"The name's Tempest, and I _do _believe you'd smashed the table I was about to sit at," the other teen spoke dryly. He had short spiky blond hair jutting out in all directions with a few lochs hanging over his deep cerulean eyes. He had slightly-tanned skin and an athletic, well-muscled figure. He wore black baggy pants bound below the knees with white socks that laced beneath the instep of the black open-toed heelless sandals on his feet, and a trio of rounded triangular black-armored plates with round bolts on his hips. He had a black shirt that hugged his body tightly with likewise armor plates down the sides of his biceps, the shirt tightening around his forearms but hanging loosely off his biceps, and completely black gloves on his hands. Around his neck and flowing down his back was a dark green scarf hanging down to the backs of his knees. Put a few whisker marks on him and he could pass himself off as Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto Uzumaki wearing pre-Akatsuki Tobi's clothing, hitae-ate absent.

"Oh? And whatcha goin' to _do _about it tough guy?" Cy goaded, the now-blond smirking before he casually tossed his lunch tray into the air. Looking up, Stone felt his opponent grab his shoulder with his right hand, kicked his foot out from under him with his left foot, and threw him up and over his shoulder. Before his head could hit the ground like he suspected, the blond-haired teen suddenly delivered a spinning kick to his sternum, sending him flying across the room.

"That," he answered plainly as his opponent crashed into the wall, extending his hand and catching the tray he tossed in the air, then catching the falling contents as Stone fell flat on his face like Spider-Man did when hegot _his_ superpowers.

"Maybe I'll _recant _that last statement and redirect it to _this_ new guy," Jinx stated with crossed arms. Whoever the guy was, was _wicked _strong, and it was most likely that his muscle mass was toned down through stretching to keep his frame from bulking out.

"Impressive moves. Who was your teacher?" another figure asked as he came up to the group, the others turning to a third mysterious teen who stepped out from the shadows.

"Great, it's the teacher's _pet_," Gizmo groaned. "What do _you _want scum-licker?"

"Just introducing myself to the new muscle," the next teen stated evenly. "By the way my name's Grant. No supervillain name just yet. What's yours?" he asked extending his hand. He was between Stone and Tempest in terms of height, and while he sounded a bit _green_, his outfit showed he may've been taking his lifestyle choice seriously. He was wearing a black jumpsuit over his upper body, but his head, chest, and left arm were all covered in a chainmail-like mesh that was smooth around his head and scaly around his chest and arm, the lower half of his face revealed showing strong yet smooth features, red lenses over his eyes. He had chainmail-mesh shorts over the rest of his black jumpsuit, and gold-colored boots on his feet that stopped just above his knees. Around his waist was a matching belt that would make most think of Batman's, gloves with segmented armor on his forearms, and a bullet magazine with a currently unidentifiable caliber strapped across his chest.

"_T__empest_," the blond said not taking the hand, a bit of an edge to his voice. "As for who _taught _me, that's personal information," he said crossing his arms, seemingly taking offense to being expected to answer a second time.

"Easy, easy, no need to get dramatic," Grant said waving his hands in an easing motion after awkwardly retracting the handshake he extended. "I was just curious is all."

"Didn't curiosity kill the cat?" Mammoth then asked.

"A _smart _cat knows how to _not _get killed," Grant returned.

"Maybe, but no matter how _smart _something is, they still leave a mess on the ground when you kill them," Tempest said with a dark grin. True, threats were thrown around HIVE all the time, but with the way he was smiling, it almost looked like the blond would carry though on his word.

_Man… Who knew Vent was so strong… Oooogh, _Stone/Cy groaned as he got to his feet. _Oh well. At least no one busted us._

* * *

><p>A half-hour later, Stone found himself in a large gymnasium that was themed like the rest of the school. At the top of the chamber was a large honeycomb-decorated hemisphere of semi-clear glass, a few columns standing here and there, with a balcony running around the perimeter. Several panels had been removed behind it to created a dark recess, and while <em>Tempest <em>was up in the bleachers with the other students, he himself was at ground level with Mammoth, Gizmo, and Jinx, apparently having been singled out by the three.

_Alright, so far so good, _Cy thought to himself. _Vent and I got in here without any complications, and while he seems to be taking this mission a little too _seriously _for my tastes, at least he's networking._

His thoughts however were soon interrupted as a buzzer went off, the floor rumbling as the floor section he and the others were standing on suddenly ground upward.

"Gamma Maneuver!" Jinx said as she suddenly leapt down, followed by Gizmo on his metal wings.

"Hold on! I don't know that-"

"Then get out of the way!" Mammoth said cutting Stone off after shoving him aside, leaping down before the newest student _–or at least one of- _shook the confusion off his face and joined in the charge, suddenly stopping shorts as four black-and-white HIVE robots _–the same model as from when Robin was unmasked as Red X- _rose from beneath the floor.

And from there the training exercise went on. _Stone _got held up by the Sladebot drones, Jinx, Mammoth, and Gizmo counting him out of the race as they pushed forward, only to be captured by mechanical tentacles moments later. To the other's surprise, Stone managed to beat back the robots, slice the tentacles, _and _knock out the turrets before getting them to their feet, heading off to the finish line at the other end of the gym on a raised platform. After the buzzers went off, Stone cheered exhuberantly, but was cut off by Gizmo saying-

"Zip it, gravel-brain!"

"You! Stone!" a regal-looking man with slicked back gray hair wearing a white robe with gold and black accents resembling a skull bellowed as he came down to them on a floating platform. "Sneaking into my school. Destroying my drones. Making my _top _students look like amateur pickpockets! You must think you're _very _clever," he said getting in Stone's face. "But you're not clever," he said causing Stone to back up into the wall, fearing the worst fate possible before the man's expression suddenly brightened. "You're _brilliant_! Well done, Mr. Stone, well done. I see a bright future ahead of you," he said with a smile, causing Stone to sigh before speaking up.

"Thanks. Uh… great school you have here, Mr., uh…"

"Blood. _Brother _Blood," he introduced with a handshake. "At your service," he said before his smile evaporated, the man turning over his shoulder at Gizmo, Jinx, and Mammoth. "As for _you _three… FAILURE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED!" he bellowed as his eyes glowed bright red. Whether that was because he was livid or not had yet to be determined. "YOU WERE ALREADY SENT BACK AFTER GRADUATING ONCE! FAIL ME AGAIN, AND I'LL HAVE YOU SENT TO YOUR DOOM!" he bellowed before composing himself. "Do I make myself clear?" he asked, the three's eyes glowing before they plainly answered-

"Yes, Brother."

"Outstanding," he said before turning to the bleachers. "As for _you_, and you know who you are, don't think I didn't notice your little stunt in the cafeteria this morning," he said to the blond teen in the stands as everyone scooched away from him.

"Who? _Me_?" he asked feigning innocence.

"Deny all you want, but I _know _you snuck in as well. Suppose it just means I'll have to get security updated if not one, but _two _students can enter this academy without my immediate knowledge," he stated in a tone that said he was more disappointed in himself and the school than he was in the blond. "Now,Mr. Tempest, I _do _believe a more… _individual _test is in order," the man said before turning to the far side of the bleachers. "Cheshire, step down to the floor. I want to see if his skill in the cafeteria was a fluke or not."

"Hai, Blood-sensei," a lithe girl in kunoichi garb said hopping down before somersaulting back into the middle of the gymnasium, all platforms and obstacles lowered so the space was completely flat. Her attire consisted of a green kimono with light green trim along the edges, her sleeves long enough to cover her hands, while the bottom was cut short enough it could be considered a skirt, showing off a well-developed set of legs. Wrapped tightly around her waist was a light-green obi showing off a near-hourglass figure, she had black boots with green trim that stopped just below her knees, her long ebony hair was tied down in two long ponytails tied at the bottom with light green ribbons. Most interesting though was the white cat-like mask that covered all of her face, light green diamond-shaped eyes lined with black lines and pink highlights to the sides, black and pink highlights above serving as eyebrows, a pair of pointed cat ears jutting upward, and a large Cheshire cat smile on her face denoting her name.

"Eh, looks like I'm busted," Tempest said with a shrug of his shoulders before he hunched down, leaping twenty feet in the air before landing in the center of the stage, clearly surprising both Cheshire and Blood with the feat, though they quickly hid it. "Very well then, Neko-chan. Let us have a good fight," the blond said with a bow as he faced his opponent, the girl assuming a crouched stance as he assumed a martial arts stance of his own.

"Heh, Blood pitted him against _Cheshire_. He's going to get _creamed_," Gizmo chuckled darkly as he and the others got back to the bleachers.

"What makes you say _that_?" Stoneasked with a raised brow.

"Cheshire's the best fighter in the school, _period_. No _way _will she lose to _this _guy," a black girl with her hair done up in buns wearing a bee-themed outfit said with crossed arms.

"Hiya!" Cheshire cried as she leapt at her opponent in a flying kung fu kick, only for the blond to catch her ankle, swing her over his head, and slam her into the yellow-tiled floor. Wrenching her ankle free, she flipped away from her blond opponent to see him actually _yawn_, almost as if he was dismissing her.

"Ooh. You know _he's _dead," Jinx said flinching.

"Why's that?" Stone asked.

"Cheshire _hates _it when anyone dismisses her. Es_pecially _men, and the fact that Temp's dressed like a ninja is only adding insult to injury," the pinkette returned.

"Ever consider maybe he really _is _a ninja?" Stone asked.

"Eh, villains dress up in all _sorts _of weird crap," Gizmo huffed. "Really, spikes and capes? That stuff's just stupid."

And with that the two fought, varying acrobatics exchanged between them as they struck out at one another, blows being deflected away from one another as to not take the full brunt. It was after maybe five to ten minutes that the two separated, catching their breaths before they spoke up.

"Hmhm. You're good, but this cat has _claws,_" Cheshire said as her sleeves fell back, a set of gleaming silver claws set onto her forearms and gleaming menacingly.

"Dude! She just brought her claws out. Wicked!" Gizmo cackled.

"Do they really make that much of a difference?" Stone asked.

"You kidding? She only uses those things on someone with _real _skill, and so far she's only used them against Brother Blood. Almost won a few times too," Jinx noted.

"Heh, you're not the _only _one with a trick up your sleeve," Tempest said with a grin as he flicked his wrist, a silver-colored disc sliding into the palm of his hand just above his thumb. Cheshire regarded the hidden weapon for a moment, but quickly rushed at the unmoving Tempest as he stared lazily at her. However to hers and everyone else's shock, she was suddenly sent flying backwards as the blond flicked his thumb, a streak of silver shooting through the air before impacting her forehead, sending her reeling backwards and rolling across the ground. Coming to a stop with her claws, a low metallic sound like _**–shri-i-i-i-i-i-ing- **_echoed from just in front of her, her green eyes landing on-

"A nickel?" Blood pondered aloud as he observed the five-cent piece of currency come to a stop on the floor, noticing the slight dent in Cheshire's mask. Were she not wearing it, that could've very well given her a concussion.

"You've got your tricks, I've got mine," Tempest said with a grin as he flicked his wrist again, another nickel sliding into his palm before he primed it just above his thumb. Growling to herself, Cheshire rushed forward, the blond flicking another nickel at her. This time however she deflected it with her claws, one student ducking underneath its trajectory before it impacted into the wall behind him, cracks spreading from the point of impact. Beginning to back up, Tempest continued to launch nickels off his thumb as Cheshire both deflected and weaved between the projectiles, nearly upon him before he flicked his wrist once more, a _quarter _falling into his palm this time. "Say hello to Mr. Washington," he said before flicking his thumb again, a loud _**-BOOM-**_ ringing through the air before the quarter impacted Cheshire's sternum, actually knocking her out of the air and to the ground, clutching her chest before she got to her feet.

"Rakansen… Chinese art of hidden-weapon coin-throwing," Cheshire huffed out as she rubbed the sore spot forming just above her chest, ignoring the guys in the audience drooling at the sight. She'd punish them for their insolence later. "Tell me… Where'd you learn it?"

"Saw it in a manga, thought I'd give it a try," the blond answered plainly, everyone giving him exasperated looks before the kunoichi only said-

" . . . Nani?" she asked tilting her head to the side slightly, wondering if she'd heard that correctly or not.

"You heard me right," he said as he began untying his scarf. "Of course that isn't the _only _thing from a manga that's actually useful in real life," he said before suddenly throwing the end of his scarf forward, the dark green cloth shooting through the air before the end wrapped tightly around her ankle, the kunoichi looking up at him in shock before he gave the article a jerk, dropping her to her back with a _**-thud-**_. Before she could cut it however, the blond gave it another tug as she leaned forward, dropping her on her butt once more and taking away her leverage. Seeing how he wasn't going to give her the chance to cut it with her claws, her hand retreated into her sleeve before she whipped out a dulled kunai and flung it through the air, aiming for the teen's right shoulder. To her surprise however the teen whipped his scarf around the weapon, twirling it around behind him before sending it back at her, the blunted weapon bouncing off the ground just after she somersaulted out of the way. "The infamous Cloth Spear technique. Oh-so _satisfying _to implement in real life," he said running his fingers through his hair.

_I must say, Mr. Tempest puts a bit of an… artistic _flair _in his fighting. Just the thing to upset the typical uptight superhero, _Blood thought as he watched the fight with interest. He didn't get to where he was without spotting talent, and both Tempest and Stone had that in spades. As for potential, that was yet to be seen.

"By the way, not to criticize on your attire, but…" Tempest trailed off before the end of his scarf shot through the air and wrapped around Cheshire's waist. "You should consider something more practical in lieu of an obi," he said after jerking it back, the girl spinning a few times before her light green sash was in his hand, her own immediately going to cover her decency, though a few got a glimpse of her bandage-bound chest and white panties.

"E-E-E-E-Ero b-baka!" she cried as she got into a flawed fighting style with one hand, her other keeping her robe closed. Normally she'd be far more composed by this, but her opponent getting under her skin and the _"Take it off!" _from the crowd weren't doing wonders for her concentration.

"Maybe, but this ero baka is still winning," Tempest said with a cheeky grin before he held out some of the obi, waving it about like one would to a cat. This of course seemed to raise the girl's ire, as she rushed at him with the clear attempts to claw his face off. During the scuffle, of which Tempest had yet to get a scratch on him, he had let the obi slip out of his hand, Cheshire plucking it out of the air before it could touch the ground, wrapping it tightly around her waist. "What? No thank you?" the blond then asked.

"Jeez he just does _not _know when to quit does he?" Jinx asked as the kunoichi was fuming, no, _fuming_! Rushing at him, the blond's eyes suddenly grew cold before he twirled around on his left foot, and just as Cheshire was about to go past him, his left elbow suddenly found home in her stomach with a low _**-thud-**_, his right elbow then going into her back with a low _**-crack-**_ as she was sent into the ground with another _**-thud-**_, the other students going- "Ooooooooooooh!" –as they visibly cringed once the girl hit the ground.

"Alright… you've got to admit… that was pretty cool," Mammoth said while the others had slack jaws. Here was the top fighter in the school, and she was getting her butt handed to her by one of the new guys.

"While this has been entertaining and all, I don't feel comfortable fighting you any longer," Tempest said as he began walking away, Cheshire groaning as she held her aching stomach, though her mask's eyes seemed to narrow upon his retreating back.

"Well, seeing as how Mr. Tempest has won," Blood began.

"Ie… mada…" Cheshire spoke getting up as she warily got to her feet, not wanting to step out of this room without causing _some _form of damage to the brunette, evident by her bringing out three shuriken in each hand, bringing her arms back before launching them at the blond. He looked over his shoulder as they came at him, the teen whirling around on his foot before he delivered a palm strike towards the incoming projectiles, a gust of compressed air veering them all off course. Cheshire seemed to have accepted her defeat, and while everyone was shocked at the display, someone saw fit to speak up.

"You! You're that windbag Titan _Ventus_!" Gizmo screeched out of nowhere, causing a few in the audience to raise their eyebrows.

"Come again?" Tempest asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, come to think of it how many _other _guys can throw wind around?" a one-eyed kid in a white jumpsuit with an eye painted on his chest asked.

_Oh man, not even one day and he's already been found out, _Cy said to himself. _Of course, I thought it'd be _me_, but this is still bad, _he added to himself.

"Let me think…" Tempest said adopting a mock-thinking pose, tapping his chin for a few seconds before answering. "Red Tornado, Mr. Twister, Wind Dragon, the Wind Dragon _clones_, Silver Cyclone, the wolf from Three Little Pigs."

"Ha. Good one," Mammoth chuckled, only for the looks he was getting from the others to shut him up.

"And I'm sure there are _other _air-movers I haven't even heard of that are still out there," Tempest went on to say.

"Alright smart guy, you wanna prove you're not a Titan? Do something one of those goody-goodies would _never _do," Jinx goaded. The hero types would almost _never _do something immoral, lest it be held against them later and ruin their oh-so precious reputations with the public. Heroes lived for that kinda thing, even if they weren't willing to admit it.

"Alright pinky, you asked for it," he said snapping his fingers. The next moment an updraft swept the room around him, causing the skirts of Jinx, Angel, and Cheshire to flutter upwards for a few seconds, the girls all trying to hold their skirts down until the winds died down. The winds continued for a full minute, most of the girls screeching as they tried to hold their skirts down, only to end up giving every guy in the gym a free show.

"Y-Y-Y-Y-You _perv_! Turn it off! Turn it off!" Jinx screeched trying to keep her skirt from flying up, and failing miserably if the passed out Cyclops was anything to go by.

"Whatever you say," the blond said lowering his arm, the winds stopping, some of the guys moaning, and the girls absolutely _livid_. "By the way, _black_, what's the occasion?" he asked in the pinkette's direction, causing her to visibly fume. She was about to hexbolt him into next month only for a stoic Blood from up above to glare down at her, the girl calming down somewhat.

"Just you wait, _Tempest_. Perverts don't _last _long around supervillainesses," Jinx said with crossed arms.

"Hey how do you think _I _feel? 90% of the student body are nothing but _dudes_. It's like a _sausage fest _in here," he said pointing out how few of the fairer sex there were.

"Just watch your back boy," Bee huffed, resisting the urge to _sting _him into next month.

"E-Ero-Kaze!" Cheshire quipped as she walked off keeping her kimono down. Turning around, you could see her blush reaching up to her ears.

"Well…" Blood said as he got up and dusted off the knees of his robe. "I think we've all seen enough. Now move along, it's about time for your next classes," he said leaving the room, everyone gathering their things before heading off in their own groups, leaving a few to converse before heading out.

"Dude, you just pissed off _every _girl in school," Gizmo muttered in amazement as the blond walked up to them, the door being in their general direction.

"Paaanties," Mammoth drooled quite openly. After all, he _was _a guy.

"Still think I'm a Titan?" Tempest asked with a raised eyebrow as he raised his fingers in preparation to snap them again.

"Nu-uh," Gizmo and Mammoth answered simultaneously, the now-blond chuckling while the disguised Cy tried to get those images out of his head. While they were tempted to ask again for the _fringe _benefits, the fury of the school's _–admittedly low in comparison- _female population would extend up on them as a result.

* * *

><p><strong>Undercover – Day 2<strong>

It was the next morning at the Tower, and Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Robot Cyborg were gathered in front of the TV monitoring all of Cy's communications. Off to the side, BB was screwing with Robo Cy, making him stand one-legged with the other swung out to the side, arms position as if dong the dance in the Bangles' "Walk Like an Egyptian" video, a yellow feather boa around the neck with a floppy white hat atop his head.

"Cyborg's communication relay has been deactivated," Starfire said worriedly.

"Could be interference. Let's just give him a minute," Robin stated with crossed arms.

"Besides, who needs him? This Cybogr is _way _more fun. Hahahahaha," Beast Boy giggled as he messed with the controls, Robo Cy letting out a- "Boo-yah!" –before Raven scowled angrily at him, Robin so mad his face and hair had turned bright red with a vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Any chance we could replace _Beast Boy _with a robot too?" Raven asked darkly. She knew that this undercover mission was going to be anything but short, and with Vent gone, she had no one to blindside Beast Boy for her while she read. _Makes me wish Beast Boy _had _gone. Maybe then I'd be able to have Vent all to myself, _she thought to herself before pausing. _Wait… Where did _that _come from?_

"Cut it out. I don't think Cyborg would appreciate-" Robin said before.

"Appreciate _what_?" Stone/Cy suddenly asked from the screen. "The fact that he's already the top butt-kicker in his class?" he asked, though he was leaving out that there were a couple students above him in that regard.

"Cyborg!" Beast Boy cried as he whipped everything off the robot and hid it all behind his back.

"Your infiltration is successful, yes?" Star asked happily.

"You bet. Had a few close calls, though."

"What have you learned?" Robin asked.

"They're working on some kinda class project. Sounds heavy, but no details yet."

"Well, find out and _get _out," Robin ordered. "The longer you're there, the more dangerous it gets. And be sure to get Vent out of there too."

"Believe me. I don't plan on sticking around," he said before the screen suddenly shifted to the back of his shirt.

* * *

><p>At the same time back at the Academy, Stone had whipped his forearm behind his back as the doorway opened suddenly, Gizmo, Jinx, and Mammoth moving towards him.<p>

"Well, what do you know. It's the headmaster's scrum-buffing pet," he said as Stone began to back away. "Get him!"

"Don't bother trying to run," Jinx said with a mirthful grin.

"You won't get far. The whole _school _is in on it," Mammoth added.

"In on what?" Cy asked.

"What do you _think_, pie-for-brains?" Gizmo asked before two jointed arms from the unit on his back extended. "Your initiation," he said as Stone saw one held a pink dress, the other a unicycle.

"Ha! That's it?" he asked with a laugh.

"Don't laugh. You have to _eat _the unicycle," Mammoth said with a grin, Stone's jaw falling slack as a big sweat drop rolled down his temple.

* * *

><p>Five minutes later, after Stone had been made to <em>eat <em>the unicycle _–and he still had no cognitive idea how _anyone _pulled that off-_, he was following Jinx down the hall with textbooks in hand, students and staff alike laughing at him as he passed by. After stewing in his own juices for a few minutes, he suddenly realized something was off.

"Hey! How come _Temp _isn't wearing this getup?" Stone grumbled as he carried Jinx's books. "I mean, isn't _he _just as new as I am?"

"Oh we _tried _to do this to him, but…" the chaos mage trailed off.

**Mini-Flashback**

"Bring those articles near me again, and I'll siphon the oxygen out of your lungs so fast you won't even know you're brain dead until they've already pulled the _plug_," the blue-eyed blond threatened menacingly as he released a small wave of killing intent towards them.

**Mini-Flashback End**

"I'm not gonna mess with a guy who could follow through," Jinx finished with a shudder. That look in his eyes showed her he easily _could _follow through on that threat.

"Aw blondie doesn't seem so tough," Stone said offhandedly before a blur of bronze impacted his forehead, sending him to the floor and Jinx's books into the air, the last thing he saw being the tail of a dark green scarf fluttering around the corner and disappearing from sight.

"_It's a good thing you're cute,"_ Jinx huffed as she collected her books, then sighing as the penny used landed on his forehead. Really, if Temp weren't such a perv, _he _would've been the ideal boyfriend material, but perverts tended to never stop, and it wasn't like Stone wasn't good-looking per say.

* * *

><p>Later on in the day was weapon's training, dealing in varying weapons from guns, rifles, beams, lasers, etc. <em>Cy <em>wasn't able to work a stone-shooting cloaking field to cover his sonic cannon, so he had to do this part of his education the old-fashioned way; by hand. It took a while getting used to, but the recoil from the weapons wasn't that much of a problem for him. Or at least not for the weapons that were _too _big anyhow. His skills with a weapon not built into his arm were mediocre, but mainly because he didn't have the benefit of a whole slew of hardware that could calculate the aiming _for _him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw _Tempest _wielding a basic energy pistol, showing quite a bit of proficiency with it. He supposed the only reason he wasn't using his _Air Bullet/Gun _technique was because it would draw too much attention to him. Besides that, the now-blond's shot group was pretty consistent, staying within two to three inches of the intended target.

Looking past him, he saw that Jinx and the kunoichi known as Cheshire _–her name _truly _fitting- _were glaring holes in the side of the blond's head while they released their own respective projectiles at their own targets. Jinx was launching hexbolts with less-than-accurate accuracy, while Cheshire threw shuriken and kunai at her own with near-pinpoint accuracy. Given how they were glaring at him, it was obvious they had an axe to grind with him. _This _axe just happened to have barbed wire wrapped around it. Then again he _did _cause their skirts to fly up for everyone to see, so that was to be expected. Looking to his left, the red white and blue-clad girl with wings on her back appeared more tempered than the others, though the bumble bee-themed girl named _Bumble _Bee was giving him nasty looks too.

_Still, it _is _kinda weird that there are only four girls in this whole school, _Cy thought to himself as he shot up his target some more, another cardboard target coming down into view. Shooting it up some more, he noticed that the booth to his immediate left was currently empty. Of course there was still a gun there so that must've meant someone was bound to use it.

On note of the whole dress thing, everyone got kinda bored of that after an hour or so, so he just had to weather it out. _"For the mission," _he told himself. Hopefully the _initiation _thing would be over and done with by the end of the day.

"Hey Bee. Teacher notice I'm gone yet?" a voice asked from behind her, Bee looking over her shoulder as the doors slid open.

"Nope. Still just as lucky as you were yesterday," Bee chuckled over her shoulder. "How do you do it, man?"

"Just lucky I guess. Hahahahaha!" the new figure said before chuckling madly out of nowhere as he took his position at the shooting range. The guy was _literally _covered head to toe in white spandex, the only thing not covered being his mouth, his wide gleaming smile making him _eerily _similar to Truth from both Fullmetal Alchemist series. His white outfit oddly enough looked like it had a hazy black outline all around it no matter what angle you were looking at, though that was accredited to an optical illusion. The only real accessories he had was a set of off-white leather belts on his person; one was sinched tightly around his waist, a few were crisscrossing his forearms, and a thinner one was around his neck acting like a choker. All of them had off-silver studs to them, and appeared to be made of the bulletproof material that "wore" like leather, a common element in the hero _and _villain worlds. "Hey new guy!" he said suddenly turning to Cy, or rather, _Stone_.

"Uh, hi," he returned. "So… What's your name?" he hazarded.

"I am what you call the world," the white-clad figure answered in a sagely voice. "Or perhaps the universe, or perhaps god, or perhaps truth, or perhaps all, or perhaps one, and I am also… you," he said pointing at him after a dramatic pause.

"Uh . . . Bee, this guy for real?" Stone asked pointing at the white-clad figure who, quite frankly, seemed a little on the crazy side.

"Don't mind him, he's just playin' with you," Bee answered as she shot at her target with her _Stingers_, which humorously-enough were shaped like **B**s. The letter, not the insect.

"Awwwww, you're no fun Bee-Bee," the white-clad person pouted.

"Don't give me lip, Insanity. Maybe if you had a more creative costume, this wouldn't keep happening," Bee argued, showing the two were at least _familiar _with one another. "And _don't _call me Bee-Bee," she chided.

"Ugh. Yes. _Mom_," he said before chuckling under his breath, Bee glaring at him with a scowl on her face before she got back to what she was doing.

_This guy's probably the HIVE version of Beast Boy, _Cy thought to himself. "So you're Insanity huh?" Stone asked, making sure that wasn't just a nickname.

"Yeah. Insanity's good for the soul," the Truth-esque teen replied.

"O…kay then," Stone returned. _Not really what I asked… but alright then, _he thought to himself. Looking over his shoulder, he saw that the posture that Insanity was using was absolutely a_trocious_. Looking at the target to see how poorly he messed up however, his eyes widened and his jaw fell slack when he saw that the energy blasts were passing through the same spot in the center of the target over and over and _over _again.

"Yeah. I did that when I first met him too," Bee said stepping over and putting his jaw back up.

"How'd he doing that?" Stone asked.

"Guy is _crazy _lucky," she answered with a shrug of her shoulders.

* * *

><p><strong>Undercover – Day 3<strong>

It was currently hand-to-hand combat practice, and after watching some old Meta-Brawl clips, most of the guys in school were just trying to recreate what it was they saw. Some did it to impress the _–rather limited- _female populous in the school, but others were taking it seriously. For example…

"Tag me out! Tag me out!" Mammoth found himself pleading as he slammed his palm floor, Tempest shocking everyone through his use of a Rolling Knee Bar as he held the larger teen's leg out at an odd angle. Mammoth _thought _he had the apparent-shinobi in terms of strength, but after throwing him onto his back, Mammoth found himself powerless against the blond's hold on his leg, even _with _his genetically-given superstrength.

"No way man! You're on your _own_!" Seemore said waving his hands from the sidelines. No way did _he _want to find himself in that situation. Even though the ligaments and tendons around the knee could sustain seventeen hundred Newtons of force, the Knee Bar could load a lot more than that; enough to completely destroy the joint.

This of course was clearly evident by the cracking sounds that rung through the air as the blond used his hips as a fulcrum to pull on Mammoth's leg, which in this case was the lever.

"I surrender! I surre-he-he-hen-deeer!" Mammoth cried pitiably. If his sister were here to see this, she'd never let him hear the end of it. Good thing she was back in Australia.

"Alright, alright. I'm letting you off the hook," Tempest said letting the larger teen's leg go, the big guy hugging his knees to his chest as he kicked the one that was almost bent backwards.

At the same time behind the shadows of the bleachers, Cy was contacting Robin through his arm communicator. After modifying the rings a bit, he found he only had to remove the cloaking field around the part of his arm around the communicator, instead of the arm as a whole. Wouldn't do any good to the mission if someone found out his right arm was nothing but hardware would it?

"Cyborg: Status report. What's been happening on your end?" Robin asked.

"_I haven't been discovered yet, and no one suspects our friend of being a Double. If that even _is _him I mean," _Cy returned.

"What do you mean by that?" Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.

"_I'm not sure if the kid's method acting or not, but ever since we got here, the guy's pulled a total 180 and held it consistently. I'm not even sure if this _is _Vent out here, or just another aerokinetic,"_ Cy stated. _"He hasn't even talked to me regarding the mission, so I'm kinda worried about that too."_

"Raven briefed me on the disguise Vent took after you left, so we know that's him," Robin stated. "As for him not talking to you, maybe that's for the better. His primary mission is backing you up if you're discovered, and if the two of you are seen talking, even with your disguises connections could still be drawn if anyone thinks too deeply into it."

"_Yeah, I guess you're right about that," _Cy found himself admitting. _Heh, for a while there, I thought maybe Vent _hadn't _found his way in here. Heh, wouldn't it be something else if that was the _real _Naruto Uzumaki out there? _he thought to himself. A moment later the gym behind him was suddenly abuzz, the large teen looking around the corner of the bleachers to see that all the students and faculty were clearing a path for… _"Robin, you are _not _going to believe what I'm seeing right now," _Cyborg said into his comm. link.

"Why? What is it?" the Boy Wonder returned.

"_Why don't you see for yourself," _he said turning his camera towards the fight, the Boy Wonder's eyes widening at what he saw before they narrowed dangerously.

"Slade…" the Boy Wonder growled as he saw the dual-colored masked man enter the gym. "What the hell is _he _doing there?"

* * *

><p>"Hello, my former apprentice," the dual-colored masked man stated evenly after stepping onto the gym floor, now standing before the residential aerokinetic, whom at the moment was staring the man down while everyone gave the two a wide berth. Visitors weren't necessarily <em>unheard <em>of, and even if they _were _rare, they almost _never _got supervillains for visitors down at HIVE Academy.

"Hello… ex-master," Tempest returned with crossed arms.

"EX-MASTER?" nearly everyone gaped, the one-eyed man paying them a glance which shut all of them up. After a few moments, the man turned his eyes back to the blond.

"I'm surprised I found you here of all places," Slade spoke to Tempest with what one would describe as… familiarity. "If you wanted the whole 'high school experience', you could've just asked. I would've sent you here if that's what you wanted," he said with an almost humorous edge to his voice.

"I think you and I both know that _isn't _why I quit training," Tempest said with crossed arms, everyone in the gymnasium stepping back when they saw just _how _he was talking to Slade, AKA Deathstroke the Terminator. One wrong move and he'd be _terminated_. "I'll ask you this once. Why are you here?"

"What? Can't a man visit his student every once in a while?" the man asked with a shrug of his shoulder.

"Not when it's been three years. Truthfully, I thought you'd moved onto greener pastures," the blond said in return.

"Doesn't mean I can't check the progress of one of my former _assets_," the man returned.

"Uh, Temp," Mammoth said from off to the side. "Do you and Slade _know _one another?" he asked, the same question being on everyone else's mind since the man walked through the gymnasium doors.

"Butt out. You don't have a dog in this fight," Tempest said leveling a glare at the rest of the students, causing them to scatter like cockroaches when the light came on. "Anyway, Slade, I doubt you're here for a friendly hello," he said turning back to the one-eyed man.

"I see you're still as perceptive as before," Slade said with crossed arms. "As you can see I'm not here for formalities. I'm here to see if you've improved any since we've last sparred."

"So then Brother Blood knows you're here?" Tempest asked. "We've recently had _problems _with break-ins, and I wouldn't want you to get in _trouble _for it," he said with a bit of an edge in his tone.

"My reputation precedes me," Slade said simply as he assumed a fighting stance. "Now come. Show me just how far you've come," he challenged as everyone high-tailed it to the bleachers, giving one of the school's top dogs and Deathstroke the Terminator some elbow room.

For a full minute, everyone was silent and everyone waited on baited breath, both Temp and Slade shifting slightly on the heels of their feet, circling around one another millimeter by millimeter. Finally after what felt like an eternity, the two charged. Just as quickly as they met, Slade whirled around, his body acting like a crowbar as his leg turned into the lever with his hip as the fulcrum, throwing the blond over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground with a mighty _**-THUD-**_; and if that hadn't turned his spine into gravel, it'd certainly bruise the next morning.

The next moment Slade leapt at Tempest, his hands immediately going in for the chokehold, superior strength showing as the blond slightly gasped for breath. However, despite the difference in power between the two, the strength of his back and shoulder muscles superceded that of the man's outstretched arms, evident in how the blond tore the man's arms away from his neck, then delivered a shin-kick to the man's groin, causing him to stagger for a few seconds.

"Hm… I see you've improved," Slade returned, somehow giving off no indicator that he'd just been shin'ed in the groin.

"Not improved. Evolved," the blond answered plainly before Slade moved in with a kick aimed at his kidney from the left side. Catching the offending leg, he then kicked up with his left leg, catching Slade in the thigh throwing him into the air before he landed roughly on the ground, the man rolling back to his feet seemingly undaunted by the force of the takedown.

From that point, the two continued to exchange fierce blows that most would associate with a kung fu movie, the sounds of fist and feet meeting flesh ringing through the air for a full fifteen minutes non-stop as the two continued to beat one another. While the blond was bleeding slightly from a busted lip from a fierce elbow blow to the face, Slade seemed no worse for ware. It was at this point that the brunette's foot found home on the man's thigh, and, grabbing his collar, leaned backwards before throwing him five feet over his head and back, the wind-user panting heavily as he wiped the blood off his lip.

_I have to finish this quick. After the beating I've taken, I don't think I can fight him off much longer. Even _if _he's toying with me_, Vent thought as he rushed at the man for one final charge. Confusing him with a spin, he brought his left foot into the side of the man's head right at where the hinge of the jaw would be, a crack spreading across the man's mask and causing him to stagger back before he fell onto his back. With the momentum generated by his bodyweight rotating freely, combined with a powerful hip thrust, the devastating blow holding over 700 pounds of force was more than enough to permanently damage the high-lying cartilidge that protected the larynx and spinal cord.

Of course if that was all it took to bring Deathstroke down, then he wouldn't have really become known as _the Terminator _would he?

"Excellent work… You've im_proved _since leaving my tutelage," Slade said from his position on the ground, the crack across his mask slowly spreading, with everyone almost out of their seats as Slade AKA Deathstroke was about to be unmasked. When it fell however, all they got was a now-blank monitor counting down from **3-**

**2**

**1**

"Oh shit!" Tempest cursed as he crossed his arms in front of his face and closed his eyes, the Sladebot going off a moment later and blanketing the training room in a massive cloud of smoke. As debris bounced past the explosion, those gathered could only stare in shock, wondering what kind of man would set a bomb off in his own apprentice's face, ex or otherwise. Even for a guy of _his _reputation, Deathstroke couldn't be _that _brutal.

"Dude…" Cyborg said with his jaw dropped, the remaining Titans silent on the other end of the line, Robin's eyes narrowed at the kind of man who would set a bomb off in his apprentice's face, even if he _did _run away.

"Fucking _*cough cough cough* _robot!" a voice cursed from inside the smoke ball as the black cloud was slowly sucked out of the room through the debris ducts. "Setting off a _*hack* _bomb in my face. _*hock* _I may've run off, but to set a bomb off in my _face_? _*blech*_ What is _wrong _with him?" Tempest screeched irately as the smoke cleared around him. What shocked most was that even though he was right in front of the explosion, it was that aside from a few singed hairs and a few pieces of shrapnel on him and a few scorch marks, he was relatively okay. For all intents and purposes, he should've been a bloody smear across the ground, and yet he was still breathing. _Cursing_, but still breathing.

"Dude. Slade just set off a bomb. And in his apprentice's face too," Mammoth said completely slack-jawed.

"_Ex_-apprentice," Gizmo interjected.

"I knew Slade could be cold, but I didn't think he could be _that _cold," Jinx huffed. _What was this about him running off though? And if so, why's he _still _running around? _she asked herself.

"How'd the guy even survive that anyway?" Seemore questioned.

"The bloody snot rag must've formed a shell of compressed air around himself right before the blast hit him," Gizmo stated with crossed arms. "Since the shockwave of the blast wasn't able to reach him, the most that did was the fire and shrapnel, but given how the explosion was more designed to destroy the construct and prevent back-tracking rather than dealing with live targets, it's understandable he's still alive from that standpoint."

"Can he really do that?" Mammoth asked. He'd only seen the guy make a tornado after all.

"Hell if I know," Gizmo muttered, just wanting this day to end. At least _now _he knew who taught the guy when he was threatening them after they tried to make him put on the dress and eat the unicycle.

"Bravo Mr. Tempest. Bravo," Blood said coming into the room with a bit of applause accompanying him. "While it may not've been the _real _Deathstroke, you _still _put up an impressive fight. Normally not even the _seniors _could take on someone of his level, and yet you did so without any crippling injuries," he said, considering the blond was still on his feet and conscious at the same time.

"Had that been the real deal and he weren't holding back I may as well have been a smear on the fucking _wall_," Tempest huffed as he picked a piece of shrapnel out of his suit. "I swear to god, if his _daughter's _as bad as he is now, then I can only i_magine _the terror she'll become when she's _his _age," he grunted with crossed arms.

"Daughter? I didn't think Deathstroke was a family man," Blood said rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Truthfully this was news to him, especially since up until just now, no one knew that Slade had fathered children, and _two _of them no less.

"Don't give the guy _too _much credit. That's why I left in the first place. To finally get out of that damned shadow of his," he grunted.

"All that aside Mr. Tempest, had I known who your teacher was, I'm _sure _I would've been able to get you one of the more _premier _rooms here at HIVE Academy. Free of charge of course," Blood said smoothly.

"I _didn't _tell you who my… teacher was, because I wanted to be my own person. Not 'Deathstroke's Apprentice'," Tempest returned as he walked out, only for a pair of orange-gloved hands to suddenly throw him up against the wall. Come to think of it the guy hadn't done anything to stand out in the past couple days, so Temp was beginning to wonder if the guy had graduated or quit or what.

"You! How _dare _you talk about Deathstroke that way!" Grant demanded. "I wanted to be his apprentice my entire life, and you treat it like it's _nothing_!"

"Slade's nothing more than a merc who will do or kill whatever or whoever is asked of him for the highest bidder," Tempest returned with narrowed eyes. "Now unless you let go of my shirt, I'm going to show you _exactly _what Deathstroke taught me. And trust me, it _ain't _how to massage a person's _neck_."

"Oh yeah? Bring it you Naruto-wannabe!" Grant spat back.

"Oh you did_ not _just say WHAT I THINK YOU JUST DID!" Tempest growled in return, the killing intent he was leaking becoming palpable as the air around him turned red. Off to the side, Blood was tempted to put Temp on some of the fast-track classes for future advancement, given that most weren't capable of manifesting their ill intentions outside their bodies unless they were telepaths.

"And what if I _did _tough guy?" Grant asked back. "I bet you just ran out on Slade because you couldn't take the _heat_."

"Your mouth's writing a check your ass can't pay. You really think you can pay the price?" Temp asked back.

"We've got an empty gym floor and twenty minutes left of class. I'm game if you are," Grant said back. It was obvious he had an axe to grind, and this one had barbed wire wrapped around the axehead.

"Bring it. I'll only need _five_," Tempest returned as the two got onto the main floor, a pair of robed figures having cleared away the last of the Sladebot remains. Despite the beating he'd taken, apparently he could still fight back.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" the students in the room began to cheer with pumped fists, Blood deciding to sit back and watch. Wrath could be a powerful motivator, or one's greatest weakness, and that _Naruto _comment Grant threw out seemed to really get under Tempest's skin.

_This will _surely _be a fight to remember, _Blood thought to himself.

"Don't think I'll hold back because you're injured," Grant said with a sneer.

"That the only reason you chose to fight me today? Cause Slade already put me through the meat-grinder?" he asked smugly, causing the silver-wearing teen to growl in his throat before rushing at the blond. Blocking a right swing with his arm at an oblique angle, the blond for a full two minutes deflected every attack down the angle of his forearms, his body constantly in motion as he stopped all of Grant's method of attack from reaching him.

"Damn! It! Why! Won't! It! Hit!" the teen cursed as all his attacks were deflected.

"I outclass you. Simple as that," Tempest said in return as he leapt into the air in a short hop, his right foot impacting his opponent's chest and sending him harshly to the ground. With no opposing object to push against, all of the move's energy was delivered straight to Grant's chest, the kick reaching impact speeds of up to 20 mph, up to 400 lbs of force delivered.

"You do _not _outclass me!" Grant roared as he rushed at the blond, anger clearly clouding his judgment as he sent a right punch at his opponent's face, only for his wrist to be captured and the blond's right elbow driven harshly across his chin as he was pulled forward. Less than a third of a second later however, the blond's elbow came _back_, the bony tip of the elbow actually leaving a cut across the right side of his opponent's chin.

"You aren't even worth striking down," Tempest said coldly as the masked teen fell to the ground, face broken and bleeding. "Get out of my sight," he finished as he turned on his heel and left, walking away from the downed Grant as he wiped the blood off his busted lip.

"No one… talks to me like that.. and gets AWAY WITH IT!" Grant roared as he suddenly pulled a large knife out of his boot and lunged at the blond.

"Look out!" Bee called out as the knife descended towards his back. The guy may've been a perv, but he didn't deserve to be _stabbed _for it.

Grant opened up with a slash surprisingly, Temp nailing him in the face with a left jab, then decking him in the kidney as he spun around. Grant quickly aimed for the blond's throat with a slash, but all he got was right knee to the gut and a left fist upside the head. The masked teen quickly aimed a stab at his face, but the blond caught his arm and pulled it up, twirling around before kicking him in the back of the knee and bringing him to the ground, twisting his wrist painfully. Before he could feel that for too long however, the blond's left foot suddenly found home across his face, a powerful kick sending rolling across the ground.

"Whoa. Did you see that?" Mammoth gaped at how _awesome _that finisher was.

"How would I have missed that?" Gizmo asked.

Back on the gym floor, Grant looked like he was about to get up to continue fighting, his teeth gnashing as the blond stabbed the knife through the floor before kicking the thing in two, but a powerful presence looming over him stopped the fight before it could escalate any further, a shadow looming over the masked teen causing him to look up in sheer terror.

"Grant Wilson…" Blood growled in the direction of the downed student as he made his way over to him, the masked teen looking up at the principal in fear. "It had been made a_bun_dantlyclear that lethal force is absolutely pro_hibited _on school grounds when you enrolled, and yet you attempt to inflict permanent harm upon another student, in _MY _PRESENCE!"

"We-We're villains! We're _supposed _to hurt people!" Grant argued, albeit a bit weakly.

"Hurting people is by choice. To do that is to surrender control of a situation. However what you just did was _out of_ bounds. This is an educational facility, and while I can't control what it is you do once you graduate, while you're under my roof, you'll follow _my _rules, the most important one of which you broke," Blood said with narrowed eyes. He may've been a mind-controlling supervillain, but he never put his students in a situation where any _permanent _harm could be caused, and for that reason he had some of the best medical facilities money could buy under his belt. "You were such a promising student, with such a _bright _future ahead of you, but if you cannot even follow one of our most _basic _rules, then I think you should seek academic advancement _elsewhere_," he said as a group of cloaked figures appeared around him, grabbing the downed teen's limbs and carrying him off.

"Wha- Hey! You can't do this to me!" Grant cried in protest as he was taken way. "You'll live to regret this Blood! I'll get you for this Tempest! I _swear _it!" he shouted before the door closed in his face, cutting off his rant.

"Damn. What a drama queen," Gizmo muttered under his breath, giggles breaking out all around.

"Mr. Tempest, I apologize that you were put in such a precarious position. I don't even _know _how he brought that knife through customs, but I assure you, something like this won't happen again," Blood took the time to apologize. After all, the safety of the students _was _his responsibility.

"No big deal. The guy was no more than an amateur, and even _if _I haven't trained with Slade for three years, I'm still more skilled than him," Tempest said as he walked out, visibly favoring his right leg. _I need to head by the tailors and get my costume fixed. No use in it getting too ragged._

At the same time off in the corner, Cy hunched back into the corner and turned his attention back to the communicator.

"_Robin, did you catch all that?"_

"Yeah. Vent was Slade's apprentice and never told us about it," the Boy Wonder scowled. "For the time being, stay away from him. I'll be _sure _to bring this up at our next team meeting. Robin out," he said reaching to cut off the line.

"_But Vent wasn't Slade's apprentice, he was this-"_ Cy said before the ling was furiously cut. _"Ex… Apprentice," _he finished. Still, him being Slade's ex-apprentice was a pretty big detail he overlooked in telling them, especially after Slade had probed him. _Maybe for the time being I _will _stay a few steps back from him. It's better for the mission anyway._

* * *

><p><strong>Undercover – Night 4<strong>

It was the day after Grant had been booted out of HIVE Academy, and things were starting to wind down. While the news that Tempest _–unknowingly being Ventus- _had been trained by Slade AKA Deathstroke the Terminator had hit all of them like a freight train, none of them saw fit to ask into it seeing as how he broke one of the top fighters in the school down to their bare basics. Cheshire was the best fighter in school no questions asked, but Grant was pretty high up in the rankings along Bee, Jinx, and recently Stone. It was as the guys were heading to their next classes, discussing the plans for the following Friday that the group stopped cold, Cheshire walking towards the troup, a finger point singling Tempest out from the group of guys as they were hanging out, her words being-

"Ero-Kaze…" Cheshire stated with crossed arms as she faced him. "Anata wa watashi to Sadihoukinsu Odori ni iku ka?"

"Uh, do any of you speak Japanese," Mammoth asked, Gizmo and Seemore shrugging their shoulders, though their eyebrows rose _–in Seemore's case only one- _when Tempest stepped up to the kunoichi before saying-

"Mochiron, watashi wa anata to Saidihoukinsu no Odori ni iku yo," the blond returned, everyone recoiling in shock at how he'd been able to respond to Cheshire in her native tongue. Of course, she was the first to recover from the initial shock, clearing her throat before returning-

"Osokute wa ikenai," she said before turning around, walking away before she looked over her shoulder adding a- "Matawa to no," to her statement before walking off, leaving a shocked group of guys before Stone asked-

"You can speak Japanese?" Stone asked in shock.

"Was I speaking _French_?" he asked sarcastically.

"Alright, I guess I walked right into that one," the teen grumbled.

"I thought the girl _hated _you. Why'd she ask you to the dance?" Mammoth wondered.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be the only one without a date?" Temp questioned.

"_Speaking of which…"_ Seemore trailed off as Jinx headed towards the group, books clutched in her hands before she stood in front of Stone.

"Hey," the pinkette opened.

"Um… Hi," Stone returned nervously.

"So… The Sadie Hawkins dance is coming up, and I don't have a date. You wanna go with me?" she asked, causing the larger teen to blush slightly before answering- "Ah… Sure." –in the voice he first used to address Blood. "Alright, I'll see you then," she said with a smile as she walked off, the majority of the group sulking.

"What's wrong with _you _guys. You're acting like your grandma just died," Temp stated plainly.

"You and Stone already got Cheshire and Jinx," Seemore sighed. "Bee's taking _Insanity _because they're friends, so that only leaves Angel."

"Actually she already asked someone," the blond stated.

"What? Who?" Gizmo demanded.

"That Batman lookalike. What was his name? Kyd Wykkid?" the blond pondered.

"Great. Everyone's taken then," Mammoth sighed.

"Ah I'm sure it won't be that bad," Temp said patting the big guy's shoulder. "I'm _sure _you and all the other guys in this school can find something else to do," he said with a smile as he walked off.

"Was that guy patronizing us? I can't really tell with him," Gizmo stated with crossed arms.

"Heck if _I _know," Mammoth sighed.

_Now I see why no one's suspecting him. The guy's pulled such a 180 no one can tell who he is, _Cy thought to himself. _Come again, _I _can't tell who he is_.

* * *

><p>And so the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance came. With only a few girls in the whole school, 80 people at the most, 40 at the least, the dance floor was pretty clear since it had been held in the gym. There was music playing, snacks and drinks scattered off to the side, and "couples" off in their own parts of the gym doing their own thing. Stone and Jinx were off dancing, the latter dancing circles around the prior while he acted like he had lead feet. Bee and Insanity were just chatting with one another, Bee apparently trying to get her friend to wear something different for a costume that wasn't so <em>strange<em>, even by villain standards. Kyd Wykkid and Angel were off in one part of the gym sipping punch and tal… enjoying one another's company. Tempest and Cheshire on the other hand…

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

They were merely tolerating one another's existence. Cheshire respected Tempest as a fighter, but as a person he was a perv, and a sexist to boot. The only reason she'd asked him at all was because Jinx and Bee wouldn't let her hear the end of it if she was the only girl not to have a date. And of course, being a girl, she wanted the best the school had to offer, Temp being her only real choice since no other man could match her.

"Want some punch?" the blond asked with a genuine smile on his face.

_Maybe he isn't _that _bad, _she sighed to herself, though she doubted a relationship at the present would work out. She was still upset for how he nearly stripped

* * *

><p>Later that evening, <em>Stone <em>was huddled over his desk in his room, the desk lamp on and the room lights on as he crammed through his subjects. His thoughts also wondered to how Jinx had made him "one of them" by handing him a HIVE-issued communicator. He didn't get to finish high school due to… so finding a clique in which to hang out with was a bit of an enlightening experience for him. As he got through the halfway point of his Theory of Mayhem notes, his arm-mounted communicator suddenly went off.

"Cyborg! Do you copy? Cyborg, come in!"

"This isn't a good time, guys," Cy said back. "We've got a Theory of Mayhem test tomorrow, and I'm totally gonna bomb."

"_Please _tell me you're joking," the Boy Wonder deadpanned.

"Yeah, um… look, sorry I haven't checked in since… you know," he said in reference to Slade's appearance. "I've been learning their combat technique, weapons, armor, and we had a dance-"

"A _dance_?-!-?" Robin cried out. "Cyborg, you're there to find out what the HIVE is planning, not learn to tango!"

"I know. This hasn't exactly been a tea party, okay?" he asked. "I just need a little more time."

"Or, maybe it's time we went on the offensive," Robin stated, Cy sighing as he got up, about to shut off his arm communicator before the Boy Wonder spoke up again. "Oh, and Cyborg."

"What?"

"Stay away from Vent until we come to get you. We can't be sure of his loyalties," he said before shutting his end of the line off.

_But he's our friend, _Cy said thinking back to how the then-brunette had saved 'his baby'. _I can't just leave him hanging._

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later, StoneCy had snuck through the empty, silent halls to one of the school's computer rooms, tapping keys onto the terminal as he peeled away the security walls bit by bit, hoping not to set off any alarms. Thinking back on it, he should've suspected Vent had been trained by _someone _in the past, otherwise he would've had _no _idea how to disarm that Chronoton Detonator. While him being the ex-apprentice to Slade was a bit of a shock, that could've very well been _years _ago, and the fact that he got probed as well and nearly died on a number of occasions since then proved they weren't on speaking terms any more. That was also pretty evident by how the two of them were wailing on one another, even if one of them was a robot.

"I'm in, and I've found the mainframe," he said after peling away the last of the security. As he looked over the screen, his eyes widened as they landed on a particular file. "Whoa! Think I just found the class project," he said looking at the schematic for something that looked like a short, thick piece of pipe with other conduits tracing around its circumference. "They're building something called-"

"-an ion amplifier," a familiar voice suddenly said out of nowhere. Looking up from the screen, Cy pulled his exposed forearm behind his back as none other than Brother Blood walked towards him from the shadows. Robin had gotten two words in, and even though Cy cut him out, he was sure Blood had heard him anyway.

"Well, _this _is a surprise, Mr. Stone. Or should I say… Cyborg?" the man asked, Cy immediately dropping his camouflage and brought out his sonic cannon. However, Blood didn't even _flinch _at the weapon being pulled on him, showing his position in a school _full _of superpowered teens was well-earned. "Relax. I don't want to fight. It's a remarkable weapon, really. Compact… elegant… devastating in its power," he said examining the device from the schematics, colored black and gold with red accents. "But it's _nothing _compared to you," he said as his eyes then fell onto Cyborg.

"What do you want from me?" he asked, waiting for any sign as to whether or not Vent's identity had been compromised.

"Oh, it's not what _I _want that matters," he said coming around the desk. "It's what _you _want- and I can _give _you," he said as his eyes glowed red like before, Cy's own human eye glowing as he began to fall under its power. As he groaned and clasped his free hand to his head, Blood placed his hand on the end of Cy's cannon. Stumbling back, he raised his right arm, stunned to find that it had become a fully organic, flesh-and-blood limb.

"My hand. I can feel it. It's _real_," he said with joy as he looked at his hand. A few moments later however, Blood's eyes ceased to glow red, his arm returning normal, or rather _ab_normal moments later. "No!" he cried as he dropped to his knees, cradling the appendage that had been so briefly restored, or at least in his own mind.

"Serve me, and I can make you what you once were. I can give you back your life," Blood offered. He waited for a few moments, Cy looking up with a defeated look in his eyes.

"I'll do whatever you ask."

"Good," Blood said as his eyes began to glow red. "Then I think it's time for the other students to see our little class _project_."

* * *

><p><strong>Undercover – Day 5<strong>

The halls of HIVE were silent. Eerily silent. On one spot of the floor, a black spot grew across the floor before a black raven-like silhouette rose, the bird-like form collapsing revealing none other than Raven of the Teen Titans, the mage looking around before giving off a- "Clear."

Nearby the door hissed open, Robin and Starfire surveying the area. Looking around for a moment, Robin looked over his shoulder before grunting-

"Beast Boy! Hurry up!" he ordered, the sound of screeching metal reaching his ears as BB pushed Robo-Cy into the hall, the changeling pushing it forward with considerable effort.

"Next time Cyborg builds a robot, he better leave instructions," the changeling sighed.

"Boo-yah!" Robo-Cy suddenly said raising a fist, Robin and the girls panicking at the sudden outburst. "Boo-yah!" the thing cried out again, Starfish-BB latching across the construct's face, muffling the loud noise that, most likely, ruined the element of surprise for them. After taking a moment to make sure no one heard them, the group sighed before Robin pulled out his T-Comm., tracking Cy's signal through the school, having received a map of the academy from their cybernetic compatriot. As for the brunette-now-blond… he just repressed any and all memories pertaining to him.

At the same time, Raven's thoughts went out to her friend who'd gone into HIVE, hoping Vent hadn't gotten himself too deep. It was then that one of the voices in her head spoke to her.

"_You're worried about him, aren't you?"_ an intelligent-sounding tone asked.

_Are you… _talking _to me right now? _the mage thought back, seeing as how talking would be kinda redundant.

"_I'm a part of your subconscious, so it only makes sense we'd be able to communicate with one another," _Knowledge returned. _"But on a previous note, you're worried about Ventus aren't you?"_

_Well… Maybe a little, _she thought thinking back on how pissed Robin was when he found out that Vent used to be Slade's apprentice. It was obvious the man had known about their little mission, otherwise he wouldn't have been there, and as to why he didn't say anything, it was most likely because it wouldn't really benefit him in any way. Slade was the kind of guy who didn't do anything for a reason.

"_Hey, this is _V-Man_ we're talkin' about here!__"_ Brave suddenly piped in. _"When that alien chick was blowing up the city, who calmed her down before getting those braces off?"_

_Vent did_, Raven answered.

"_When we were getting our butts kicked and BB had a busted leg, who covered us while we got back to the Tower?" _she then asked.

_Vent did… _the mage repeated.

"_When those Lightning Bros. were shocking the _crap _out of us, who kicked the skinny one's ass because he used him for target practice?"_

_Vent did… _Raven returned, seeing where this speech was going.

"_When that Chrono-mowhitzer was primed to go off, who disarmed it with seconds to spare?"_

_Vent did…_

"_When Cy's car was taken over by that overgrown floppy disc, who saved his baby?"_

_Vent._

"_And who put up with that cat-girl so she wouldn't turn the city into a moth-eaten wasteland?"_

_Vent, _Raven said again with a twitching eyebrow, her cloak flashing light green for a brief moment, though no one notices.

"_And who's got the cutest little ass on the team?"_

_Ve- BRAVE! _Raven shrieked into her head.

"_It wasn't me. It was Pervert Raven,"_ Brave replied.

_Pervert… Raven…? _the mage thought as she felt her face heating up.

"_Yeah, but I call her Ero-Kara!" _Happy squealed. _"That's Pervert Raven in Japanese."_

"_Yes, and it appears the guys have begun to rub off on us," _Knowledge stated as she readjusted her glasses.

_Should I even ask what _color _she's wearing? _Raven sighed to herself. Envy was light green, and she didn't particularly enjoy having her inner ramblings thrown in her face when she first _saw _that emoticlone.

"_Bright neon pink,"_ Knowledge stated. _"I believe it's due to the fact that people in anime and such blush that color when something perverted happens."_

_And Vent says _he _has problems. My _mental _issues have issues, _Raven sighed to herself, really needing a hug right about now. _Lonely… are you influencing me right now? _she asked after realizing the convulsion that just went across her psyche.

" _. . . What?"_ the grey-clad emoticlone asked nervously. _"Vents hugs are… nice… and I miss him," _she said meekly.

_If it'll make you feel any better, I'll get a hug out of him later, _Raven sighed as they headed down the hall, trying to ignore the new voice in her head telling her to "get a feel of that sweet ass" when they eventually met up.

This mental conversation of course took a lot less time than it would've been read, were it in print _–nudge nudge wink wink-_, and at that time, Robin had locked onto Cyborg's signal.

"I'm picking up Cyborg's signal… directly below us?" he said in confusion. The next moment without any warning, the floor panel below them pivoted like a trapdoor and dumped them out of sight, their yelling ringing before they landed on a light panel within a dark chamber. Afer a few seconds, all the lights flickered on at once, revealing a room resembling a gymnasium, styled like the rest of the school.

"Not good," Beast Boy said as the manb known as Blood came down on a floating panel.

"The Teen Titans. So _nice _to make your acquaintance. I'd introduce you to my students…" he trailed off as one of the panels rose up. "But I'm fairly certain you've already met," he said as five figures emerged, Jinx, Mammoth, Gizmo, Tempest, and Stone.

"Attack Pattern Alpha!" Stone suddenly called out as he leapt off from his perch, the others joining in as the Titans looked on in shock. Raven spotted a smile coming from the brunette-now-blond, and while it was reassuring, she couldn't be sure if whether or not this was the Vent she knew, or one of his "Persona".

"No mercy! NO MERCY!" Blood bellowed as his students charged. Starfire went into an aerial charge loosing a string of starbolts as she went, Jinx swerving back and forth across the floor while Mammoth barreled straight ahead, not stopping even when one hit the floor in front of him. The mammoth teen then rammed his shoulder into a tall column, sending it toppling towards Starfire, who managed to avoid it in time to avoid being crushed. Jinx then somersaulted and threw a few spells up at Raven, whose fast flying _–trained by a program Vent had programmed with Dr. Slim for her-_ kept her out of harm's way. With her face showing some level of annoyance, though mainly because she'd lost sight of the brunette-now-blond, she levitated several columns into the air before sending them at her opponent like massive javelins. Smirking, Jinx stood her ground before running along the first javelin's length, leaping from one to the other before coming out on the other side completely unharmed. At the same time, Robin was racing out from below a lower pedestal, skidding to a stop when Gizmo came at him with his spider legs. The Boy Wonder was quick to use a birdarang to sever two of them, sending the mechanically-minded maniac to the floor with a loud _**-crash-**_. Looking around for the "traitor", he had to dodge out of the way as _Stone _came down at him, the spiky-haired teen dodging out of the way, trying a string of kick sonly for them to be blocked by a granite forearm. As they continued to spar, the two quickly ended up face to face.

"Cyborg! Take it easy!" he cried before his eyes popped, Stone clamping a free hand onto the back of his head before flinging him across the arena. At the same time elsewhere, Beast Boy was huddled behind Robo-Cy, fumbling madly with the controller.

"Come on, come on, how do you make this thing-" Beast Boy said as he went through the options _**"Booyah"**_, _**"Attack"**_, and _**"Options"**_ before landing on- "Attack mode!"

"Teen Titans! Go!" Robo-Cy said as he charged, only to pull a U-turn and crash into the wall, dust clearing to reveal that he'd smashed straight through the paneling and into the hall surrounding the ground floor.

"Yo," a familiar voice suddenly said, the changeling looking over his shoulder to see the disguised brunette sitting on his haunches beside him, a smile on his face and a hand held up in a partial wave.

"Hey, did anyone ever tell you that you look a _lot_ like Naru-" the changeling began to say, a tick mark appearing on the now-blond's forehead before his left arm suddenly snaked around BB's neck, the inside of his elbow going right around his trachea and pinning him before the now-blond's right fist began punching him repetitively. "Ow! Hey! Cut it out!"

Elsewhere, Gizmo and a bunch of holograms of himself were incessantly taunting Starfire via surround sound, the girl firing off starbolts and stargrenades before suddenly releasing an intense burst of energy that consumed the area around her, the doppelgangers gone an Gizmo dazed from the temporary overload. Star was about to shoot him down, but Mammoth suddenly came in with a flying tackle and brought them both into a pedestal completely destroying it. When the dust cleared, Mammoth headed back into the fight, though Star was left dazed and embedded into the floor.

"Enough, Cyborg!" Robin said as he fought _Stone _off with two shortstaffs. "It's time to drop the act!"

"This _isn't _an act," he said with an edge in his tone before rushing at the Boy Wonder with a roar,Stone landing a blow that sent Robin and his staffs flying in three different directions, the leader sliding across the floor on his back and ending up next to Starfire, who at the moment had at least been able to peel herself up from the floor panels. Before _Stone _could land the finishing blow right as they got up, Robo-Cy came out of _nowhere _and slammed into him, pushing the disguised original all the way into the wall. As the dust cleared, both fighters were revealed to have vanished, but moments later on the balcony level, Robo-Cy was sent flying out through the masonry, Stone perching himself on the broken edge and ready to jump as the unknown-double landed atop a column.

At the same time, Robin had helped Starfire to her feet to steady herself as the others seemed to be preoccupied watching Stone fight _Cyborg_. Moments later their attention turned to the disguised blond, who was holding Beast Boy in a headlock and currently giving him an atomic noogie, the changeling's limbs flailing about. As Raven was forced towards her friends by Jinx's barrage, Beast Boy was suddenly thrown through the air, landing at the group's feet before Gizmo launched a metal globe-like device at them, three smaller balls attached to the underside. The next moment a force field was projected around them, the four Titans imprisoned. Raven looked up to her friend through the translucent orange glass, seeing Vent step behind Mammoth. A part of her felt elated when the now-blond gave a wink and a discrete thumbs up, but Robin didn't share the same sentiment.

As the team fought their way through the force field yielding no results, _Stone _and _Cyborg _were wailing on one another, blows being driven to both sides. After a few minutes however, _Stone _seemed to get the upper hand, beating the robot-double's face in. This however had the affect of destroying the holo-rings on his fingers, his disguise flickering on and off before it faded completely.

"I knew it!" Gizmo shrieked. "The stinking gack-bag is one of _them_!"

"No," Blood said as he floated down. "He's one of _us _now."

"And I'm ready to prove it," the now-revealed Cy said, eyes glowing red.

_I'm surprised they don't realize _I'm _fake too,_ Vent thought to himself, seeing as how no one questioned him. Blood probably let him in on this because of his first impression against Cheshire, then his fight with Slade.

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Blood said stepping off of the panel, then holding up the Ion Amplifier. "This will amplify your power by magnitudes _unimagined_," he said as Cy held out his right arm, clamping it on like a giant bracelet before the teen activated his sonic cannon. "Destroy them for me, and you'll have your reward."

"Cyborg! No!" Robin called out.

"Please!" Starfire pleaded.

"Come on, buddy!" Beast Boy said rubbing the soreness off his scalp. "We're your friends!"

"Sorry, but I have _new _friends," Cy said coldly. Looking up, Raven's eyes landed on Vent's, the smile on his face seeming to tell her everything would be alright. This was proven true a few moments later when Cy suddenly let out a loud- "Psych!" as he rounded his sonic cannon on Blood, the man caught off guard for a moment as his mind-control powers were broken, bringing up a crimson shield at the last second to block the shot. Said shot ricocheted straight up and blew a hole in the ceiling, the students scattering as pieces of the school began to fall, the attack apparently haven hit one of the school's overhead support structures.

"A foolish choice, my friend. Very foolish," Blood growled under his breath as Cy lowered his cannon.

"You could've been one of us," Jinx said reproachfully.

"I could've been a _lot _of things," Cy answered, Jinx mulling over his words before her attention turned to the blond off to the side.

"Tempest…" Jinx trailed off turning to the blond. Sure the guy was a perv and he terrified everyone with his mere presence, but…

"Yeah… About that…" he trailed off before a trio of pennies found their way into his palm, thumb launching them through the air and shredding through the force field generator a moment later. "I just happened to have a really good makeup artist," he said standing next to Raven after walking over to her, the girl handing him a small vial with a smile on her face, which he drank. Moments later blue tears leaked from his eyes and his hair reverted to brown from the root to the tip, his eyes once more crimson as he wiped the blue liquid from his face. "Sorry 'bout misleading you. Hope you can forgive me," he pleaded, apparently returning to the "Default" setting.

"I KNEW IT!" Gizmo then shrieked.

"No you didn't. I had you all fooled from day _one_," the brunette replied.

"Cheshire is going to be _pissed_," Mammoth said before running off.

"Raven, get us out of here," Robin said after he and Cy fist bumped.

"Thought you'd never ask," Raven said with a smile as a large black bubble encompassed all of them, the raven-like silhouette shooting up through the academy before breaking through the skyline.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Raven's "soul self" had landed on the Titans Tower roof, the group getting their bearing back. After letting the adrenaline rush from being in a collapsing building go away, Robin turned to Cyborg before asking-<p>

"So… Mind telling us what that bit with you and Blood was about?" the Boy Wonder asked.

"Sorry I had to play rough with you guys," he said before removing the amplifier. "But when I found out what this thing could do, I had to make Brother Blood trust me."

"But if all those HIVE kids were brainwashed, why not you?" Raven then asked.

"Because _half _my brain is electronic. He may have been able to fool the man, but he couldn't fool the machine," he said pointing to the left side of his head.

"Which means the next time we face him, we have our _own _secret weapon," Robin said with a smile as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, the sentiment lasting for a few moments before he rounded on the used-to-be-bruneette-now-blond-but-is-back-to-being-brunette. "As for _you_," he said rounding on Vent as he shed out of his clothing, revealing him to be in a white T-shirt and grey sweat pants underneath. "Why the hell didn't you _tell_ me you were Slade's apprentice!-?"

"Ex-apprentice! _EX_! And until a few months ago, you didn't even know who Slade _was_!" Vent growled back as he swapped out his sandals and in-step socks for a pair of blue sandals that came from… who _knows _where.

"I _did _know about him! Just not that he changed his name from _Deathstroke_!" Robing growled back.

"Oh! Well what did you want me to say? Hi guys, my name's Ventus. I like flying, munching on in-flight snacks which are just regular snacks only I eat them while flying, oh, and I'm the ex-apprentice of the supervillain _Deathstroke_?" he shouted back as he stood over the other teen, sparks flying between their eyes and their teeth grinding against themselves.

"A little _info_ would've been nice. For all I know, all that stuff about you running away was nothing more than a ploy so you could get into the Tower! Infiltrate our group and _turn _on us!" Robin growled back, things growing deathly quiet on the roof as Vent's expression suddenly turned flat in half a second, looking down at Robin before walking right past him and stepping onto the edge of the roof. "Hey, we're not done here!"

"If _this _is how you're going to treat me, after everything we've been through, the battles we've fought together," Vent said facing the team, his back to the open air at the front of the tower. "Then we _are _done here," he said with a sigh. Letting himself slowly fall backwards with arms spread, he then fell over the edge of the roof, causing the others to gasp out in shock.

"Vent!" Cyborg, Beast Boy, Starfire, and Raven cried out as they ran to the edge of the roof, the latter causing one of the lights to blow before they all looked down. For a few seconds Vent continued to fall with his arms spread, his clothes whipping in the wind as he neared the unforgiving ground below. However, at the last possible moment, his body suddenly released a shockwave as he flew off, barely a foot from the pavement below as he shot off towards the setting sun in the distance.

* * *

><p>"Lousy… Traffic Light… Boy Blund<em>eeer<em>…" Vent hissed to himself a few minutes later on the bridge that connected one end of Jump City to the other. "I don't know _why _Slade would want someone like _him _to be his apprentice. Seems far too in_flexible _for that kind of lifestyle to me," he noted, remembering how if Robin didn't have a plan he couldn't act. _Yeah. _Totally_ inflexible._

"Friend Ventus, there you are!" a voice suddenly called out, causing the brunette to look over his shoulder and see the orange-skinned Starfire flying towards him before landing behind him. "Ventus, we were so worried for you? Why did you do that just then?" she asked worriedly as she clasped her hands together.

"We?" he asked as a green pigeon dropped down beside her before transforming into Beast Boy. "Hmph. If you're here to chew me out like your friend Robin did, then I'm not interested," he said as he hopped off the top of the bridge and got ready to fly away, only for an orange-skinned hand to grab his wrist and stop him from leaving. Looking over his shoulder to them, he was surprised to see that they didn't have scathing looks on their faces like Robin had before, but more like that of understanding.

"Dude, we're not here to chew you out. We're only worried about you," Beast Boy stated, Starfire letting go and letting the teen drop back onto the platform.

"Even though I'm Slade's ex-apprentice and I put you in a chokehold before giving you that noogie?" the teen asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll admit, you caught me off guard with _that _one, and the noogie _was _kinda harsh," Beast Boy stated scratching the back of his head. "But, at the end, you helped us out of that forcefield. You're cool with us," he said extending his fist, which Vent respectfully bumped with his own.

"Alright, fine… I'll stay," Vent sighed. Truth be told he would most likely follow the reports of earth-related disasters hoping he could hang out with Terra for a while, but he supposed it would be easier for her to find him in Jump than him find her in the middle of nowhere. Without any real means of communication, the two could end up going right past one another without ever meeting up again.

"That is most glorious!" Starfire cheered as she pulled the teen into a bone-crushing hug, Beast Boy winching before the brunette was released. "Come friend, let us go home."

"Alright… but… think we could take the long way home?" the brunette asked looking toward the tower nervously, where he could swore he heard Robin griping from even _there_. "I think Mr. 10% Hair Gel needs some time to simmer down."

"Yeah. If _that _isn't the understatement of the year," Beast Boy said crossing his arms, transforming into a pterodactyl and flying off after Vent and Starfire on the "long way home", which was pretty much flying over the city from one end to the other before heading back to the Tower.

* * *

><p>"Damn…" Vent cursed hours later with the rays of the setting sun at his back. Dinner that evening was <em>hell <em>if there ever was one. "I knew from the _get _go that Slade would blab the moment we met up again. I just didn't think he'd let me twist in the wind for so long before exposing me."

"While I can at least under_stand _Robin being surprised by who you were once a student to, I can also say with confidence that you didn't deserve that verbal lashing earlier," a voice said from behind him, the brunette looking over his shoulder to see that it was Raven, her hood currently down. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked motioning to the edge of the roof beside him.

"Go ahead. I'm not stopping you," Vent sighed as he rested his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands. Nodding at that, Raven took a seat a yard or so away from him. The two were silent as the sun began to set against their back, and it was after a short while that Raven saw fit to speak up.

"So… You were Slade's apprentice once. How'd _that _happen?" she asked. She was qenuinely curious. Not critical about it in the least.

"I'll give you the abridged version. I… had a falling out with my own family, Slade found me, gave me a purpose, I looked up to the man like a father and hoped he'd reciprocate those feelings, but after a while I just gave up on that false dream and left," the brunette sighed. "Despite it only being one-way, I once _did _think of Slade as my father, even if only vaguely. And even then if only for a time. I don't anymore, but that's a part of my life I guess I can never leave behind."

"Well, you're not the _only _one with father issues," Raven sighed as she took a seat beside Vent, letting her legs dangle over the edge.

"Hmph. Well, I bet _your _father isn't the Anti-Christ," the brunette huffed. However, when a light bulb shattered beside him, he whirled around to see the saddened expression on Raven's face before she squashed it back down. "Oh man… Your dad _is _the Anti-Christ isn't he?"

" . . . What gave it away?" Raven asked sadly, her cloak flashing grey for a few seconds, though it went unnoticed in the poor lighting.

" . . . Lucky guess," Vent said looking at the shattered remains of the light bulb that shattered. "Look Rae, I _swear_, I didn't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't think any less of you for it. Honest."

" . . . Do you _really_ want to know about my father?" she asked, the brunette nodding. "Well… Then you'll have to tell me about what happened between you and _your _family."

"That's fair, though I don't think Robin will be able to tolerate me around here for a while," the brunette said as he scratched his head, then snapped his fingers a moment later. "Hey Raven, I have an idea! Let's run away together," he said extending his hand to her as he got up, the girl blushing crimson, causing a lighting fixture on the roof to melt. "Um, let me re_phrase_ that," he said scratching his head at the melted lighting fixture. "_I've_ got father issues. _You've _got father issues. Since we _both _have father issues, why don't the two of us step out of the city for a while. Get away from everything and just talk. You know, like a vacation," he suggested.

" . . . I suppose a vacation _would_ be a good idea," Raven sighed. "Besides, if Robin's going to have a conniption over you being Slade's former _apprentice_, then I can only _imagine _how much he'll flip out when he learns who my_ father_ is. What I'm destined to do."

" . . . You don't have to tell me if you aren't ready. I'll still tell you about me, my family, and Slade's falling out if you ask," the brunette stated.

"No, it's fine. This is something I'd like to at least _practice _getting off my chest," Raven said getting up. "Plus, a vacation with you sounds… nice," she eventually said, a hint of a smile on her face, her coat flashing to pink for a brief second. Just long enough so nothing on the roof would melt.

"Hmmm… If we're really going to go, then I think I may know a good place for us to let off some steam. Cool off for a while," Vent said as he got up and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Best part is, Robin won't have any choice but to let us leave, since he can't leave half of the Teen Titans absent from Jump if he decides go after us himself."

"But you and I being gone will have taken out a _third_," Raven reminded.

"If things really _do _get bad, we'll come back," Vent stated lacing his fingers behind his head. "At the most, we'll be gone for a three-day weekend. Otherwise, we'll head back home before we even get to where I had in mind," he said heading to the stairs.

"Where _do _you have in mind for our… impromptu vacation?" Raven asked.

"A nice little place on the opposite end of the US that I hung out a while back," the brunette responded. "Just focus on packing light. Later we'll meet up at my room and decide how to let Boy Wonder know that we're leaving for a little… sabbatical."

"Maybe… We should meet in _my _room," Raven suggested, catching the brunette slightly off guard since _no one _went into her room. "I mean, he won't expect it, and thinking about it, I guess I need to get out of Jump for a few days too. You moving through the halls will be less suspicious than _me _doing so after all."

"Oh… Well alright then. I'll meet up in your room after packing, and head out before anyone even knows we're gone," Vent said with a kind smile. "Oh, and Raven, thanks for understanding," the brunette said as he ran to his room. After a few seconds, a soft smile graced Raven's features that didn't cause anything to melt or blow up, and she disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Ventus' change in appearance and being called Tempest is a brief reference to 26-Lord-Pain's ****NU: RedX Rising**** fanfic, where Naruto (the inspiration for Ventus' changed appearance and name for his stint at HIVE, with permission used by the author of course) goes by that alias. The being dressed in pre-Akatsuki attire was based on an idea I had for a Naruto/Teen Titans XOver story that never got past the initial creation stages. The fight between Ventus and the Slade Robot took moves from Human Weapon, though had some random moves mixed into it as well. I added something from Red vs Blue into his fight with Grant as well, and any RvB veterans will know what I'm talking about.**

**As for the "twisting in the wind" line, that was taken from Justice League Unlimited Season 2 Episode 8 when Gorilla Grodd was confronting the Flash in Lex Luthor's body. The situation is different, but the context still applies.**

**Also, the Rakansen and Cloth Spear techniques are both taken from Mana Tatsumiya and Ku Fei from Mahou Sensei Negima respectively, both of which are within Vent's abilities to perform. I had **_**originally **_**thought of having him use some of Lee's taijutsu, but that'll be saved for later since he has yet to learn the Goken/Strong Fist.**

**Also (_again_), the character Insanity was an OC offered by Gui, and mainly used because he seemed interesting enough to add since I was using Grant Wilson already.**

**Author's Note:  
>The <strong>_**Grant **_**that appears in this story is roughly based on the **_**Grant Wilson **_**from **Teen Titans (New Earth)**, and will be making an appearance later on in the story. Him appearing wasn't a one-time thing.**

**On note of the allusions made in Ch 16 and how things are different in the here-and-now (or from **_**that **_**perspective **_**there**_**-and-**_**then**_**), the reason for the evident change was because of the change in circumstance. You can change the past, but not the future. To try will only create alternate timelines, and given that everything I know about Time Travel comes from TV Specials on the science channel and the Back to the Future series, I like to think I know what I'm talking about in this instance. The further from the futre that a time-traveling method has on the past, the greater the changes caused.**

**As for their vacation, you could call it a mini-arc between Raven and Ventus, sorta like the episodes that cater to the friendship between two characters in the Teen Titans series. You're free to guess where they're going, but for the time being you won't be able to find out until the next chapter. Or the one after depending on how it's been written out.**

**P.S.  
>As for Cheshire and "Tempest's" conversation in Japanese, it was pretty much her asking him to the Sadie Hawkins dance, him saying he'd be happy to go with her, and then her threatening him not to be late "or else" before walking off. You can reverse-translate it if you want, but for the mostpart it's up to you to interpret what it is they're saying.<strong>


	22. Soul Sabbatical PT I

Dinner the evening following Ventus and Cyborg returning from HIVE Academy was a bit of a… wearisome affair. The entire time no one talked, not even Beast Boy to crack _jokes _if you can believe it, and Robin glared at Ventus the entire time; as though he were looking at Slade instead of his own teammate. It was quite surprising to see how at one time the two could work so well together in the field, only to be at one another's throats the next. The entire time Robin had his hand on at least _one _crime-fighting gadget, and Vent… It was like after Blackfire all over again. Completely blank and emotionless. And who could blame him? Having your best friend talk _at _you instead of _to _you would do that to a guy.

This only _cemented _Raven's decision on "running away" with Vent for his little sabbatical. She and Robin were good friends too, probably to the same extend that Vent and Robin were since while the two weren't buddy-buddy, they could at least tolerate one another. After seeing the normally level-headed teen completely flipping out and spitting accusations like that however, she worried for her own future on the team. It wasn't her fault, she just couldn't tell anyone yet. Hopefully she'd get a little practice during their "vacation".

At the moment she was meditating in her room, packing some clothes and essentials with her telepathy into a dark blue black-trimmed backpack as she waited for Vent to show up. Vent could almost literally come out of _nowhere_, and given who he was _once _the apprentice of, now him being able to sneak up on her, as well as everyone else in the Tower, made sense; though it didn't mean she'd judge him until he got his side of the story. It was right around the time she set the final clasp on her bag shut that she felt a presence heading towards her. Opening her mind's eye, she saw that it was Vent moving silently towards her room, back against the wall like a ghost as he made his way towards her. Not wanting to risk Robin monitoring the doors opening and closing, a black vortex appeared on her door by her command, an ebony hand reaching out and pulling him through until he was dropped silently in front of her.

"Heh, now I know how _Link _feels whenever he's being yanked around by Midna," the brunette chuckled as his feet touched the ground, Raven accrediting it to a video game or something. Who knows. If there's one dark enough, she might just start getting into them. "So Rae, you packed?"

"I am," she said letting her feet touch the ground, adjusting her backpack so she could wear it beneath her cloak. "What about you? Are you packed?"

"Yeah. Got enough clothes for a couple days. That should be all we need for Robin to cool down, as well as for the two of us to get to know one another better," he said scratching the back of his head. At the moment he was wearing black open-toed sandals similar to the ones he did when they first met, khaki shorts with cargo pockets, a red sleeveless hoodie with large pockets, the aviator's goggles on his forehead, his blue white-flamed scarf hung around his neck, and on his back was a stuffed backpack colored a drab olive green. "Not to criticize or anything, but cloaks aren't exactly incognito where I'm thinking of going. Did you bring any regular clothing with you?"

"I'll just wear this for travel. It's what I'm most comfortable in," Raven returned as she tightened the straps so she wouldn't have to worry about her pack falling off. "I worked out the best way for us to travel long-distance. It'll be the same thing I did to get us back here from the HIVE Academy, only this time, the destination will be dictated by _your _thoughts instead of mine."

"So Robin won't even know we're gone until the morning?" Vent asked.

"Unless he catches us in the act, yes," Raven returned, assuming a meditative stance on the floor. "Now, sit in front of me, take my hands, and try to imagine where you want to go as best as you can."

"Mind over matter, huh?" Vent said sitting cross-legged in front of her. "Alright. I'll give it a shot," he said taking Raven's outstretched hands, his brow furrowing slightly as he tried forming the mental image into a shape Raven could understand. "Do you see it now?"

"Mmmmmm. It's kind of blurry. I'm not really getting a clear enough image for this to work without complication," Raven said trying to make sense of the image she was being given. It must've been old, at least a couple years, if it was this blurry. A moment later she felt something touching her forehead, and opening her eyes, saw that Vent was _right _in front of her, their foreheads touching, as were their noses. "V-Vent, what're you doing?" she asked nervously, a bit of a blush on her cheeks at the close contact.

"Seeing if I can give you a more _direct_ image," the brunette returned with closed eyes, Raven seeing the logic in his actions, so she leaned forward a bit so he wouldn't have to so much. While it didn't help her concentration with how close to kissing they were, the fact that she _–or at least _one _part of her- _had already done that helped somewhat, the haze seemed to peel away as an image came to mind. "Can you see it now?"

"I can…" she answered finally homing in on the image, finding the closer, _and slightly more intimate_, contact helping. "I see a white house… rolling hills… a red barn… and an old oak tree with a tire swing."

"Yep. That's the place," Vent said as the two broke contact. "So, we ready to leave?"

"One last thing I need to ask before we leave. Did you leave a note letting the others know we're heading out of town?" Raven asked. "I wouldn't want them to worry unnecessarily."

"Oh, I gave Boy Wonder _plenty _of notice," Vent returned with a chuckle.

"VEEEEEEEEEENTUUUUUUUUUUS!" said Wonder's voice suddenly cried out loud enough to raise the dead.

"Whoop. Time to go," Vent chuckled, Raven shaking her head at the brunette's antics, a ghost of a smile on her face as an ebony raven suddenly swooped up from beneath them, enveloping the two before flying into the ceiling and out of the Tower.

* * *

><p>Across the eastern half of the US, if you were to look up into the sky that evening, you may have <em>just <em>been able to see an ebony blur shooting through the skyline. If your eyesight was good enough, you would've been able to see that it looked like a bird. Of course since it was ethereal, no airport towers were able to detect it shooting through the skyline, so you may as well have been looking at a ghost. A few minutes into the flight, five at the most, the bird-shaped silhouette dropped down in a small town in the middle of the US, an ebony raven rising up out of the ground behind a large white sign. Stepping out of it were two teens, one in a sleeveless hoodie, the other in a dark blue cloak.

"That was… pretty far," Raven panted out as she found the ground. "Where'd you show me?" she asked as Vent helped her to her feet.

"Allow me to welcome you to…" Vent said leading her around the white sign the two landed behind.

"Smallville?" Raven asked reading the sign. "Hm. Seeing as how your intended destination was so far away, that much I can tell, I'm guessing I couldn't get a pinpoint location on where you wanted to send us."

"No worries. We're right where we need to be," Vent said looking down the road, seeing a small rural town down the road. Given how far they'd traveled, they'd gained a full hour over the others by the clock, and _several _more if they tried going after them, which was unlikely. "Are you alright? Maybe I should've actually _told _you where we were heading instead of having you throw us halfway across the US."

"Don't worry about it. I'm fine," Raven said noticing the sun was _just _dropping below the western horizon. "So… I can tell where we are," she said looking to the sign. "I just don't know what _state _we're in."

"Kansas. Halfway across the US," Vent answered as he limbered up before holding his arms out. "Come on, I'll make the next leg of the trip. Just put your feet on mine and I'll get us to where we need to go."

"Oh… well… okay," Raven said walking over to him, stepping onto his feet like a daughter would with their father as he wrapped his arms around her and held him to his chest. The next moment his eyes and hands glowed silver, the wind picking up around them before the two were slowly lifted off the ground. Wrapping her arms around his waist, Raven had to hold back a surprised cry as the two suddenly shot off in a miniature cyclone through the evening skies, a field of silver wind veiling them from view. Heading over the town through the sky for a few minutes, Raven looked down to see that most of the businesses were most likely family-run, and that all the businesses were shutting down for the evening.

_Things are certainly quieter than in the city, _Raven noted to herself before she looked up at Vent. "So… What do you think is happening back at the Tower?" she asked as she held onto him. It wasn't like she couldn't fly on her own if they got separated, but it was kind of nice to fly without having to actually _think_ about it.

"Wanna listen and find out?" Vent asked pulling out his T-Comm. as they came in for a landing.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile half a continent away…<strong>

"Aaaaargh! I can't be_lieve _that guy!" Robin ranted as he stomped around the Ops Center, fuming as Starfire, Cyborg, and Beast Boy rubbed the sleep from their eyes after being called up to the command center. It didn't help that they had _just _gotten to sleep when Robin bellowed at them over the intercom.

"_Who _is it that you cannot believe, and where are our friends Raven and Ventus?" Star asked looking around, noticing they were two short.

"See for yourself," Robin grumbled going over to the console, a disc case with a sticky note reading **PLAY ME** sitting next to it as he pressed the play button, the monitor playing a bit of static before Vent appeared, the clock reading around twenty minutes ago.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Yo, if you're seeing this, then I'm most likely out of the Tower, and out of a _certain _someone's hair gel-laced hair," Vent chuckled from the monitor, Robin gnashing his teeth at the slam about his hair. Didn't help that it felt like the Vent on the screen was _actually _laughing at him. "Anyway, Mr. _Nay_sayer, you wanted me out of the Tower, you got your wish. Not really sure I'll come back, but I figure Jump needs _me _a little bit more than you _don't _want me on the team, so I'll probably be back whether you want me there or not," he stated as he cracked a soda open and began downing its contents. Probably just to annoy him with how laid-back he was being. "Oh yeah, seems Raven's going with me on our little… _sabbatical _as well, so she'll be gone too. And just for the _record_, Traffic-Light Boy," he said slamming hsi palm onto the desk assertively. "She's doing it of her own free will. She _isn't _being forced into it," he said leaning forward with narrowed eyes before he eased up. "Anyway, Cy, if you're watching this, could you see about keeping mine and Raven's rooms locked until we get back. You and I _both _know how hard it is for Beast Boy to not mess with other people's rooms," he stated causing the changeling to sulk and the cyborg to laugh at his expense. "Anyway that's about all I had to say, so until we next meet, I _bid_ you, adieu."

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"I'm going after them," Robin said heading towards the door, only for Cy to yank him off the ground by his cape. It didn't help his position as leader that no matter how much he swung his arms and legs about, he couldn't make contact with any surface.

"Dude, maybe that isn't the best idea," Cy stated as Robin tried to reach the ground.

"Yeah, I mean did you _see _the way you nearly bit his head off?" Beast Boy asked, remembering how _livid _Robin was, burning through accusations like candy. "I'm pretty sure you still have bits of him in your _teeth_ after the way you just tore _into _him."

"The guy was Slade's apprentice and never _told _us!" Robin argued.

"Yeah! Maybe because he figured you'd flip out like you are _now_?" Cy argued, purposely towering _over _the four-foot hero.

"Yeah man. _You _were Slade's apprentice _too_, but we don't hold it against _you _do we?" Beast Boy asked.

"I'm _different_!" Robin growled.

"Why? Just because you had a superhero career before _Vent _did?" Cy asked, Robin grumbling to himself with a storm cloud above his head.

"Friends, maybe we need to give friends Ventus and Raven their space of personal," Star suggested.

"It isn't about _space_. I'd be fine with it if it were just _him _gone, but he took Raven with him," Robin rebuttled. "That means he took a third of the team out of the city."

"Maybe _Raven _has something to hide too," Cy said with crossed arms. "After all, we don't really know that much about her. For all we know, she may have stepped out because she thinks you'll react to something from _her _past the way you did to Vent."

"It isn't that simple. Do you know what kind of message we're sending out if members of our team leave whenever they feel like it?" Robin asked.

"Do you know what kind of message you're giving the _rest _of us?" Beast Boy asked, surprising the others for his rare moment of clarity. "Dude, Vent _was _Slade's apprentice, and you saying he's the guy's spy was a _low _blow. Face it, you've been trying to gun the guy down since day one, jumping at _every _opportunity to do so, and truthfully, I'm not sure you're leader material if you're going to flip out _this _much over something so _small_," he said crossing his arms.

"Do you know what Slade _did _to us?" Robin demanded. "He tried to destroy the city, he probed you and threatened your lives, made me into his slave."

"But friend Ventus had naught to do with _any _of those things, and he _too _was probed as well," Star spoke up. "Maybe… we should give them the time they require to sort things out."

"Yeah, and _you _need a time out," Cy said crossing his arms as he stood over Robin. "We'll try calling them tomorrow. Right now, it's late, and I just want to go to bed. I need to recharge after that last mission," he yawned. He'd had to shut down a few non-essential systems for his stay in HIVE since there wouldn't be a Cyborg-compatible charger, and his sonic cannon _did _eat up the most power out of anything.

"Rrrrrrrr…" Robin growled before taking a deep breath. "Fine. We'll leave it at that," Robin grumbled to himself as he headed back to his room. "For _now_," he finished.

Little did they know Vent and Raven were listening in on the whole conversation.

* * *

><p>"Robin seems quite upset," Raven noted as she looked up at him. After looking around, she saw that the two were slowly descending towards the ground in a low slope, the countryside empty apart from them.<p>

"Yeah, and _I _got the full brunt of it," Vent noted before he popped open the back of his T-Comm the moment they landed, Raven taking the chance to step back a couple paces. "Let's not give Traffic-Light Boy the chance to triangulate our positions," he said as he clicked a small red button on the inside.

"What did you just do?" Raven asked as she straightened her cloak.

"I shut off the tracking device," Vent answered. "The guys can still talk with us, but they won't be able to track us down and drag us back until we're ready to go home," he said holding his hand out, but then dropped it. "If you're having second thoughts about this, you don't need to stand by me for my sake. After all… being on my own isn't really anything _new_," he said leaning back against the nearby fence, Raven standing beside him before she held out her own T-Comm.

"I… don't really feel like going back right now either," she said passing it to him, the brunette slowly nodding as he popped the back open before shutting off the tracker, closing it up before handing it back to her. "So, where do we go from here?"

"I'll see if this old couple that took me in a while back remembers my face," Vent answered as he got to his feet and dusted off his pants. "For the time being, you should probably change into your civilian clothes. A monk's cloak doesn't exactly spell inconspicuous," he said as he walked down the road, finding some shrubbery with a bit of space behind it. "I'll let you have your privacy, let you know if someone's coming," he explained before facing the other way, Raven nodding before she set her backpack down and started pulling out clothes, a wall of shadows rising over her as she got changed.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later, Ventus and Raven were walking through Smallville. To passerby they were nothing more than a couple of kids on a nice walk, and given Raven's attire, hardly anyone would think she were a superhero. Not in the <em>bad <em>way mind you.

Having changed out of her cloak and leotard, she now wore black and blue sneakers, black hip hugger jeans, a black T-shirt with a silver ankh on the front, and a blue hoodie with black flames on the sleeves. Her brooches were stashed away in her bag, and at the moment she was wearing a black headband that covered her forehead. It was a few minutes down the road later that Vent saw fit to comment on one part of her attire.

"Hey Rae, I noticed you covered up your Anja Chakra. Any particular reason?" Vent asked as they walked down the country road.

"It seems to draw people's attention, and I didn't want to risk anyone recognizing it. That's why I'm covering it up," Raven answered truthfully. If it wasn't her ash-colored skin, it was the "ruby" on her forehead that did the same.

"Well you don't have to when it's just _us_. I _like _that part of you. Makes you look distinctive," Vent returned with a smile.

"Moreso than my gloomy disposition and ash gray skin?" the mage asked.

"You're not gloomy, you're just… misunderstood," Vent said placing a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, I can't imagine you as any other color than that light gray you wear so well. It gives you an almost… _exotic _feeling."

"Exotic, huh?" Raven asked, having never been called _that _before. "Thanks Vent."

"Hey, I call them like I see them," Vent said with a smile before coming to a stop. "Well, we're here," he said motioning forward, the blue-clad mage looking down the path to see a quaint farm house nestled into the countryside. The property was four, maybe five acres, the front edge following the curvature of the road. At the front was a small but quaint two-story light-gray house, a front porch on the left side and a brick chimney on the right. At the back edge of the proper to the right was a red and white-trimmed barn, while to the left was what appeared to be a light-gray storage building.

"What is this place?" Raven asked. "Is this your home?"

"No… I wasn't that lucky," Vent said with a sad sigh before smiling again, leading the girl to the front door. "I hung out here for a while a year or two back. I just hope they remember who I am, and that I'm not waking them up or anything," he said finally coming up to the door and pressed the doorbell. The sound of footsteps from behind the door indicated that someone was home, the two taking a couple steps back before the door was opened. At the door was a tall man with graying hair, and had rounded wire-rim glasses over his light blue eyes, a strong chin setting him apart. At the moment he was wearing a tan-colored shirt, grey-slacks, and black loafers.

"Hello. Do I know you from somewhere?" the man asked before his eyes landed on the brunette. He seemed to notice the blue-clad girl, though his light blue eyes primarily stayed on the brunette.

"Hey um, you may not remember by looking at me, but um…" the brunette began nervously.

"Jonathan, who is it? Is that Clark?" a woman's voice said from what was most likely the dining room. Stepping into view a few seconds later was a woman with graying hair, her eyes light blue like the man now identified as Jonathan. She was wearing a pink button-up shirt, light grey pants, and blue slippers. When her eyes landed on the brunette, her brow furrowed in concentration for a few seconds before her eyes suddenly lit up. "Vincent, is that you?"

"Hi Martha," the brunette said, Raven raising a brow at her calling him Vincent, but figuring that was his real name.

"Vincent? Hey, it's been a while," Jonathan said clapping a hand on the brunette's shoulder after recognizing him. "So, finally decided to pay the two of us a visit after all these years eh?"

"Glad the two of you recognized me. I figured I'd end up looking pretty _foolish_ if you didn't remember me," Vent said nervously.

"Hey, who could forget that _staffwork _back in the ol' barn?" Jon asked scratching his head. "So, who's your friend?" he asked as he turned his attention to Raven.

"Oh, the front porch is _no _place for a reunion. Come on, we just got dinner started," Martha said leading the two inside, Raven noting the warm, happy feeling the place seemed to give off. She noticed that on nearly all the family photos that in it there were two parents and one child. They were probably Jonathan, Martha, and this Clark person. She managed to spot a bit of brown and red in one of the pictures, noticing a slightly-younger Ventus/Vincent in it.

"I heard you mention your son's name. Does that mean I'll finally meet him?" Vent asked as he and Raven were led into the dining room, a plaid-patterned tablecloth laid out and some plates set up, the oven running and a couple pots bubbling.

"Maybe. Maybe," Jon said taking a seat at the head of the table. "He said he'll be coming by from an assignment, so we set up this big dinner just for him."

"Of course if I knew you were coming with a _friend_, we would've made more," Martha commented. "But please, please, do sit down. Don't be shy," she said motioning for Vent and Raven to take a pair of seats to the side across from her as she set out a pair of plates, silverware, and glasses.

"This all smells great, though it feels like we're intruding," Vent said scratching the back of his head. "If I knew your son was going to be coming by, I would've waited until _next _time."

"Nonsense Vincent. You're like family to us," Martha said waving off his worries. "So, are you going to introduce your friend to us?" she said motioning to Raven.

"Um… Hi, I'm Raven," the blue-clad mage said smiling weakly.

"Hello Raven. You must be a friend of Vincent's, seeing as how he's brought you all the way out here," Martha said with a smile.

"Yes, I am. However, I don't know who you are Mrs…" Raven said fishing for a name.

"Martha. Martha Kent," the woman said shaking the girls' hand. "And this is my husband, Jonathan Kent."

"It's nice to meet the two of you," Raven said with a slight bow. "So um… how do you two know Ventus? Are you his grandparents?"

"Ventus? Hold on, you wouldn't happen to be that teen hero down in Jump City would you?" Jon asked facing the brunette, earning a nod in return. "I'm guessing _you're _a Teen Titan too," he said facing the blue-clad girl, getting a nod as well.

"Hold on, how do you know about the Teen Titans?" Vent asked.

"Hey, we may be tucked away in the middle of nowhere, but we _still_ get the evening news," Jon said with a chuckle. "Still, who would've thought? Kid superheroes. They're getting younger and younger every day."

"You haven't written to us. I thought you'd forgotten about us," Martha said in a worried tone.

"Yeah… Heheh. Sorry. I _would've_, but I accidentally misplaced your address last year so…"

"Don't worry yourself over it. We're all guilty if misplacing our belongings," Martha said waving the brunette's worries off. "As for your question, Raven, Jon and I watched over Vincent a couple years back. He was a lot _different _from who he was now."

"I'm guessing Vincent is your real name?" Raven asked facing the brunette.

"Yeah… I guess I just never found the right time to tell you," Vent chuckled.

"But still, to think our little Vincent would grow into such a nice young man. And a _superhero _no less," Martha chuckled as she pinched the boy's cheek.

"Ma, quit that, you're embarrassing me," Vent whined, though the ear-to-ear grin said otherwise.

"So… The two of you _aren't _his grandparents then?" Raven asked, drawing the two's attention.

"You mean you haven't told her?" Martha asked the brunette.

"I… um… I didn't want to trouble her," Vent sighed sadly.

"Vincent, you need to learn not to bottle up all your problems," Jon said in a fatherly tone as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"I know that but… My life in Gotham… It's just too depressing, and I didn't want anyone to have to put up with it if they didn't have to," Vent sighed. "Of course, if you're that worried about it, it shouldn't be a problem for too much longer. I promised Rae I'd tell her my life's story before we headed out."

"Well I'm glad to hear it," Martha said with a smile. "But do tell me, what brings you this far out into the countryside?"

"Well… Our team leader kind of has a problem with my past, so I sort of stepped out of town for a bit so we could _both _cool down," he answered.

"What about you?" she asked facing the blue-clad mage.

"I… _might _have similar problems in the future, so I'm just preparing myself for when that day comes," she answered. "That and I was worried for my friend's safety."

"Oh my. I guess _all _teenagers have their problems, no matter _what _generation they're from," the woman said with a sigh.

"I tell you, it's all this rap music going around. Turning kids into a bunch of punks," Jon said with crossed arms.

"I think it's the rock and roll," Raven stated. That spiky-haired guy in the orange jump suit was the _least _favorite of all the guys she had to put away.

"How about Rae and I step out so we can talk?" Vent asked as he got up from the table. "It'll give the two of you a chance to wait for you son to get back," he finished as he headed for the back porch, Raven stepping up with a bow before following after him.

"Feel free to come back in if it gets too cold out there," Martha said getting up from her seat, going over to the stove to watch the pots and oven.

"Don't worry Ma, we will," Vent said before he and Raven left the dining room.

"So… Who should go first? Me or you?" Raven asked as they came to the back door, a back porch with a porch swing waiting for them.

"I think… I'll put it to a toss," Vent said pulling out a shiny new quarter from his wallet. Tossing it into the air and letting it land on his thumb, he let it fly into the air with a low hum, the piece of copper and nickel tumbling through the air before coming to level with the brunette's eyes, his hand darting out and taking it in his palm.

"You didn't say heads or tails," Raven stated at the moment Vent put the coin back in his wallet. An old army camouflage-patterned one with black trim.

"I know," Vent answered. "However, I don't let something like _chance_ decide something so important. A fifty/fifty probability. When that coin hums in the air, _that's _when I make my decision, because by the time it comes down, I know what I truly want," he said with a smile. "So… Settle down, and I'll tell you a story."

For a moment the two sat in silence, the porch swing lolling back and forth as the sun set in the distance. Raven waited patiently, Ventus collecting his thoughts if the furrowing of his brow was any indication. After a few minutes and a deep breath, Vent finally began telling his story.

"Despite what you may've known until coming here, my name isn't _really _Ventus. Before I got my powers I had another name. Vincent. Vincent Valentine."

"You mean like that gunman Beast Boy went on about after getting that one game?" Raven asked.

"Yeah. You wouldn't be_lieve _all the cracks about my name that I've heard over the years," Vent sighed. "Where's your triple-barrel revolver? Can you transform into a werewolf for me? Do you have Cloud on your speed dial? I've heard it all before, and if _anyone _hears of it now, I'll never hear the end of it. That's why I'm asking you, as a friend, to just keep calling me Vent or Ventus. You know how big a mouth Beast Boy has," Vent stated.

"All too well," Raven sighed. "But don't worry, I won't call you Vincent."

"Hey don't be so hasty, you can still call me that when it's just the two of us," he said quickly. "It'll actually be kind of _nice _to have someone call me by my real name after all this time."

"Oh, well alright then. When it's just the two of us," Raven said with a nod and a ghost of a smile. _I guess I can tell him my real name after his tale is over._

"Anyway… I was born and raised in Gotham, and you could say I was one of the _lucky _ones, if only for a time. I had a mom and a dad who cared about me, a roof over my head, and three square meals a day. I had no other family apart from them, and we were lower middle class, so I didn't have that much growing up," he narrated off his family structure. "Growing up in Gotham… You develop differently. The place is filled to the _brim _with criminals, muggers, rapists, and psychopaths. Scum of the Earth for every direction up to your eyeballs with hell bubbling up into the street. For that reason, when you grow up in Gotham, you learn to grow up fast, or don't grow up for that _long _really. My mother, Eleanor Valentine, was a middle school councilor. I remember her telling me one time that the reason she wasn't a _high _school councilor was because by the time they got to that point, there wasn't anything that could be done for them. No lasting impression to be made. My dad… he…" the brunette began to trail off, becoming quiet as the grave moments later.

"If you aren't comfortable talking about it, you don't have to," Raven said taking his hand into her own. "What you've said so far is enough, and I don't need telepathy to tell how hard it was for you to say this after all this time."

"Raven…" Vent said softly as he took her hand in return. "I've kept this bottled up for so long, and I don't think I can keep it held in forever. I'm telling you now because I think you can understand, but I won't be telling the others about this unless I absolutely _have _to," he said before looking her in the eyes. "Please… I want someone to hear my story. It's so that I'll at least _know _that I existed. That my life had and _has _meaning."

" . . . Alright. I'll stay, but let you tell your tale at your own pace," Raven returned. In the back of her head, she could feel Lonely trying to reach out to him, just like he had for her before. And somehow… it felt like the right thing to do, so she began stroking his hand, letting him know that she was there.

"Thank you Raven… This means a lot to me," Vent said with a smile as he held Raven's hands in his own, taking a deep breath of the evening air before he continued his tale. "My dad was a guard, but not your _typical _guard like bank or mall detail. He was ex-military with years of experience overseas, and because of that fact, he was able to become a guard at the Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane. However, because he didn't go to college, his pay was limited, and even though he stopped numerous patients from escaping, he was never promoted, given the recognition he deserved, or anything like that. With the fact that at home we could never quite step up… he slowly started to become like the men he was guarding. He became angry at the world, and it's one of the reasons that I left them. Almost immediately after my powers began to manifest."

"So, when _did _your powers first manifest?"

"It was shortly after my ninth birthday, right after the _cheese _thing I mentioned a while back. The wind started picking up around me, like with a tornado, so I ran into my room and hid under my bed like my mom told me to. Anything that wasn't heavy or bolted down was sent everywhere, and all I could do back then was curl up into a ball and wait for it all to end. It wouldn't be for maybe a full year until I got a full grasp of what was happening to me," Vent narrated. "The next morning when my dad got back, he had a _fit _since my… _first wind_, wrecked the living room, hallway, and my own room. I tried to tell them that I didn't know what happened. That the wind started picking up by itself, and that I kept getting this weird feeling deep inside of me. My mother tried to defend me, especially after my eyes and hands started glowing silver. My father… he saw me as a monster the moment he spotted the silver glow. Because he didn't understand what was happening. The two of them stared to argue, and I…" he said trying to hold back the tears. "I just grabbed my winter coat and left. The two of them didn't even notice I was gone."

"You ran away from home?" Raven gasped. With that happy-go-lucky smile of his, she would've _never _thought he'd run away from his family. Then again…

"Yes… Yes I did…" Vent answered mournfully. "I don't know for how long it was, but after that, I took to living in the streets. Those were some of the darkest times of my life, and in that time, I saw what people were truly capable of… What they were capable of doing to one another," he said as he tried to fight off the flashbacks that threatened to appear before him. Much like they had many times before when things were finally getting "normal" for him. "I never went home after that, especially since my powers went off sporadically around me. I tried begging, but because of my glowing eyes and hands, the people became afraid of me. Thought I was a monster… And maybe… they were right," he said before a loud _**-SLAP- **_sound was made by Raven's hand going across the side of his face. Turning back towards her, he saw that the blue-clad mage was almost on the verge of tears as she faced him.

"Vent, that isn't true! You are _not _a monster!" she cried out. "Just because you had powers didn't make you a monster! It's what you _do _with those powers that shows who you are. There are people with _no _powers and they're the _real _monsters, so don't let me hear you call yourself that again. You hear?"

" . . . Thank you Raven," Vent sniffed as he wiped a tear from his eye as the red hand imprint on his face began to disappear. "You're _*sniff* _You're a good friend," he said suddenly pulling her into his arms and giving her a hug, which after a few moments she returned. A minute later when the tears stopped, he wiped the last of them from his eyes before he began anew. "Anyway, it was winter the following year just shortly after my birthday. I'd taken to living in the bell tower of an abandoned church since it was isolated enough that I didn't have to sleep with one eye open or worry about getting attacked. By that time, I'd gotten _some _grasp of my powers, and while I could move the air _where _I wanted to, I just couldn't make the powers stop once I had a runoff. _Kinda like with Terra," _he said whispering that last part to himself. "It was early December when I met… _him_."

"Do you mean Slade?" Raven asked.

"Yeah… Him," Vent answered. "At the time I didn't even know who he was. All he was to me was a man who suddenly came in through my window with a few tears in his outfit and dents in his armor. He invaded my home, so I blasted him into the church below with a gust of wind, however doing so caused the room I was in to collapse, and I was sent into the cathedral below as well," he said as the memory of falling wood, stone, and debris came to his mind. "I hit the ground, hard, and I was pretty sure I broke my arm in the fall. It was when the man I'd later know as Slade got up that he noticed my hands were glowing, as were my eyes. He reached out to me, but I batted his hand away from me, and I fought back. Living on your own in Gotham, you tend to pick up a few tricks. For me it was how to steal without being seen, pick pockets without getting caught, disappear when you don't want to be seen, but most of all… I learned how to fight. I had to fight for my very life on more than one occasion, and every time I won. Against Slade however…" he said closing his eyes, the memory of himself being thrown back from a reverse-roundhouse kick coming to his mind. "I was nothing more than a dust mote before his power. That… was when the man extended to me an offer…"

"To become his apprentice," Raven said connecting the dots.

"That's right. He told me that he saw potential in me, but not only that. He said he saw a fire in my eyes. A fire that, if stoked properly, could make me _very _powerful in the fugure," Vent answered. "Without a friend to turn to or a family to go back to, I took his offer. I received medical treatment, but not just for the broken arm. Slade pumped me full of the nutrients that I'd been missing out on for that year I was on my own, and anything that was wrong with me before, he had fixed. It was after that, that my training began," he said with a sigh as he looked down at his own hands before placing them on his knees, his bangs concealing his eyes as his mind went backwards. To a time when life was admittedly more simple than it was now. "For the next six months, from what I _figured _was dawn to dusk, sometimes longer, Slade ran me near-into the ground with hours upon hours of rigorous physical training. I became faster, stronger, more agile and dexterous, but most importantly, powerful. Not only that, but my senses also became sharper. I could catch things I would've missed before, move out of the way of attacks that would've nailed me otherwise, take hits that would've put me down for days, and move in ways I never thought possible," he said as his body tensed. Like a coiled spring. "Not only that, but I gained the flexibility of a gymnast _years _my senior, and could zip through the water like a fish. In short, he trimmed the fat and replaced it with half my bodyweight in muscle."

"Makes sense I guess," Raven said thinking back to the times she'd been able to catch glimpses of the brunette's physique. "What happened after that?"

"He put me through three months of training that made my year alone in Gotham look like a _cakewalk_," he answered. "I learned to survive in various climates, how to forage for food and _what _to forage for, how to hunt, navigate, and make shelter. That bit of my training eventually contributed into how I came into town that faithful day all those months ago. Fit and primed with only the clothes on my back."

"What about fighting?" Raven asked. "Every time we had to face Robin, only you were able to match him, and it may've looked like your movements were random, but I always knew. You were _trained _to fight, so I'm just wondering _what _Slade taught you back then."

"It… was in a full year that I learned how to fight," Vent answered. "Slade taught me every weak point the human body contained, both inside and out. Whenever he wasn't out doing what it was he did, he brought in specialists to teach me how to fight. I learned not to make mistakes twice, not with how much it hurt, but since I had nothing _else _in my life back then, I persevered. Blood, sweat, tears, I shed them all by the _truckload _as I learned to fight, and not necessarily in that order," he said jokingly trying to lighten the mood. "From what I could figure, Slade was ex-military, so obviously I learned military martial arts, as well as judo, brawling, and kickboxing. I had thought I was a pretty good fighter back in Gotham, but being trained by him showed me just how much I had yet to learn," he said thinking back to how… satisfying it was when he was able to defeat his instructor who for so long had lorded his skill over his head. Of course, Slade was always out of reach, but back then, it didn't matter. "After that I learned out to fight with staves, batons, and tonfa. The big stuff like knives, swords, and guns could come later, but regardless, by my twelfth birthday, I'd turned my body into a living _arsenal_," he said remembering back to how easy his life would've been back in Gotham if he knew then what he did after training for that one year. "Of course, after the fighting, I learned how to fight the world. Or at least its _digital _facet."

"Like how?" Raven asked with genuine curiosity, even though she'd seen the signs and had a clear idea of what he was talking about.

"It was basically three months about computers and the like," he answered. "Use, hacking, and programming. I learned the tricks of the trade to the point I could probably rob a bank and get off Scott free, given I didn't leave any evidence behind."

"I won't have to worry about _that _in the future will I?" Raven said cracking a joke, wondering just why nothing bad had happened yet, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth and just enjoyed herself for the time being.

"That was so funny I forgot to laugh," Vent grumbled.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't help myself," Raven giggled. "But do go on. What happened next?"

"Well, after learning how to make the digital world my bitch, pardon the language," he said seeing Raven waving his worries off, "I learned in greater detail how the human body worked. I learned the location of almost every nerve cluster, pressure point, and pain receptor in the human body. In addition to being able to stop a person with a single strike, I learned the real-life equivalent to Takedowns. Whether they were silent or violent, either way, _someone _was going to be in for a world of hurt," he said crossing his arms and nodding. After hearing from Beast Boy how Vent kicked the asses of a few punks back before they became the Teen Titans, his exaggerations weren't so hard to believe now, though she withheld her thoughts since the changeling could've been exaggerating _some_.

"Would any of Slade's training have to do with how you disarmed that Chronoton Detonator?" Raven asked, figuring _some _aspect of his training had prepared him for dealing with explosives. Traditional or otherwise.

"Actually yes, though the next four months were more diverse than just that," Vent answered. "In that time I learned how to make bombs and what to make them _from_. I learned placement for varying purposes, be they demolition or anti-infantry. And of course I learned how to _disarm _bombs, during which I think I sweated out a bottle of grape cola I stole a couple years back when we moved onto _live _training," he said with a shudder, hoping Raven wouldn't hold that one part against him. It was _Gotham _after all, and everyone stole something at some time or other. "I was also taught a bit of sabotage, vehicular mechanics, electronics as well as electronic warfare, and how to comprehend the function, use, and activation of varying weaponry."

"Hence how you knew how to use that Thermal Blaster even though you only had it on you for a few seconds," Raven stated. "Ah, sorry for interrupting. Go on," she urged. Despite this being all about _Slade _teaching him, it was still an entertaining tale. Thinking back onto how he had fought Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth from witness accounts on news the following evening, the footage caught didn't seem so... flighty as it did back then. With what she'd heard, it seemed like that smile on his face and the whooping coming out of his lips was the perfect diversion to how he fought. No movement or energy wasted. Of course, he was probably having fun with it with how much he was laughing and how much Gizmo was screaming. She almost combusted the sofa when she and the others saw the clip.

"After that I spent the last of my twelfth year on stealth and infiltration," Vent said thinking back to all those dark corridors he had to navigate through, as well as the traps, obstacles, and on occasion, live… opposition. "I thought all I needed was my know-how from Gotham, but boy was _I _wrong. I learned how to become as silent as that one grave I had to sleep in," he stated, not noticing the sad look that crossed Raven's features upon hearing that little tidbit, "and even control the beating of my heart and my breathing. With the right attire and prior preparation, I could've gotten into _anywhere_."

"Though I assume he didn't want an apprentice with the mental aptitude of a child," Raven said crossing his arms. Vent may've been flighty, but he wasn't stupid either. Slade _must _have had a hand in that. Or at least by her figuring.

"Yeah, and _boy _did he double-time the around-the-clock tutoring," Vent sighed as he wiped some imaginary sweat from his brow. "One month near non-stop per subject, probably so I'd be ready for the real world when I was done with his training. Math, science, and history were the first, branching off into other sub-subjects. I figure I have high school-level aptitude in all those," he said scratching his head, remembering all the cramming he had to do. "I was taught the ins and outs of politics so I knew how to manipulate the system, should I ever be caught, as well as economics so if I ever got that far, I could control the world with the one thing that really mattered; money," he stated.

"You only mentioned five subjects. What's the sixth?" Raven asked.

"Cooking and nutrition?" he answered with crossed arms.

"Cooking?" Raven asked with a raised brow. The dual-colored masked villain didn't seem the cooking type. Maybe an Iron Chef with way too many knives, but general cooking just didn't seem to go with her mental image of him.

"Slade always told me that the body was like an engine that needed fuel. It needed the right mixture of grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products, otherwise the entire thing would collapse. That's why Slade kept me in peak physical condition at all times. Even when the lessons weren't physical," Vent stated. "Or at least until I left that is."

"Well I figured that much, but _why _did you leave?" Raven asked. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad you did, but it sounded to me like there wouldn't be any _real _reason for you to leave."

"Because I had more than one reason for becoming Slade's apprentice, even if I didn't know it at the time," Vent answered. "All my life, I wanted my dad to be proud of me. However no matter what I did, it just wasn't enough for him. Maybe I didn't give it enough time, or maybe his standards were too high. I don't know," he sighed as he shook his head. "All I know was that I wanted _someone _to be proud of me, and I thought that if I could make _Slade _proud, my life would have some real meaning. However… It was all the same. Even when I did something to the letter, or got a perfect score, I never got the recognition I wanted. Just that same look of indifference."

"What about when you _didn't _do something to the letter, or got a perfect score?"

"Slade told me what I did wrong, and I did it right. If it was in fighting, I got hurt when I did something wrong, but I learned to do it right," Vent answered. "Anyway… By the time I left, I had been training with Slade for three and a half years. That means by the time I had left, I was just over the age of thirteen. Maybe half a year if I remember correctly. I don't have an exact date."

"But why didn't he try and take you back? And what of your powers? Didn't he try to help you control those? Turn them into some sort of weapon?" Raven asked. She'd noticed no reference to his powers at _all _during his story, and was wondering about that.

"The way I see it, Slade figured if I was disloyal enough to leave, then it wasn't worth the time to try and subjugate me into _staying _since I'd be too difficult to control. As for my powers, there was never significant enough development on that front to warrant the dedication of time to that front," Vent answered. "Ironic how it was _after _I left that I began to gain some _real _form of control. And with all the skills I'd obtained, though both Gotham _and _Slade, I was able to get by pretty well."

"So… What did you do after that?" Raven asked.

"After a while I met the Kents," Vent answered motioning to the window, taking note that their son Clark had yet to show up. "When I met them, I was just a quiet, troublesome teen… who could probably snap your wrist with a flick of the hand. After they took me in however, I guess I learned what it was like to be human again. I had smiled for the first time in years, and it was from them that I got the name Ventus, meaning wind," he said with a soft smile at the memory. "In fact, Martha was the one who knitted me this scarf. Since then I've always kept it on me, as a reminder that even with all the darkness in my heart, how my story had no happy beginning, that there was still a light worth cherishing," he said letting the ends flutter in the wind. "After that I traveled as I could, whether it be by foot, car, train, boat, or even through the air. I went all _over _the place, learning bits and pieces from everywhere I went, and the people I met."

"And what then?" Raven asked, feeling a bit of _Happy _leaking in trying to hear the end of the story. For some reason nothing bad was happening, but to her it was only because there wasn't that much around here that could be broken so _chaotically._

"Three or so years after I left Slade, I found myself in Jump City," he answered with a smile. "At _first _it was just so I could buy some snacks and get ready to head out again, however a lot of things happened, and eventually, I found myself wanting some lasting friends, and a place to call home."

"Wow… That's… quite a story," Raven said a bit surprised by all this. Then again the boy _had _laid out his entire life in front of her, so that was understandable.

"Yeah… It actually feels kinda good to get that off of my chest after so long," Vent said with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair. "Thanks for listening Rae."

"Rachael."

"Huh?" Vent asked with a confused expression.

"That's my name. Rachael. Rachael Roth," the blue-clad mage returned with a bit of a smile. "Of course, same as with you, you're only allowed to call me that when we're alone."

"Well then I guess I'll just have to get us a lot more _alone _time huh?" Vent asked with a toothy grin, causing Raven to blush bright red, the back door opening and the person leaving it saving her from further embarrassment.

"I was _told _we had some guests over. I don't believe we've been formally introduced yet," a tall, well-built man with blue eyes, wire-rim glasses, his hair combed back, and a dark blue business suit said coming out onto the back steps. "Ma and Pa _told _me how they took someone in a couple years back. It's nice to meet you in person."

"You must be Clark. Clark Kent," Vent said getting up from the chair and extending his hand, the large man returning the sentiment and giving a firm shake.

"Yes, and I _do _believe you both are members of the Teen Titans, are you not?" Clark asked the two.

"Yes, but how did you know?" Raven asked. "Did Martha and Jon tell you?"

"That was part of it," the man said stroking his chin. "The other was the two of you flying over town earlier."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Vent said before stopping. "Wait a minute… The only way you could've known that was if you looked _through _that cyclone, and in order to do that you'd need… X-Ray… vision…" the brunette said as his words began to slow down, his eyes narrowing on the man's face before his hand suddenly darted out, snatching the glasses off his nose before he gasped- "Holy _shit _you're Super-" was as far as he got before the man clapped his hand over the brunette's mouth, unintentionally cutting off his air supply as a result.

"_Shh. Do you want the whole _town _to hear?" _the man asked trying to keep a lid on the situation. The next moment a black aura appeared over his hand before a spherical forcefield separated it from the brunette's mouth, forcing it back. When his eyes turned to the blue-clad girl with the black headband, he saw that her right hand was glowing black, her eyes glowing white.

"_Given your a_cute _resemblance to Superman without your glasses on," _Raven began. _"And add to it that you just _confessed _to it, it isn't that hard to believe," _she stated. _"Relax. We know how to keep a secret."_

"Eh heh… I must be getting a little sloppy," Clark said with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head. "Man, Batman would _kill _me if he knew this happened."

"You mean Bruce Wayne?" Vent asked, earning a surprised look from the disguised Man of Steel. "There aren't that many people he _could _be," the brunette said with a flat expression.

"I neither accept nor deny those claims," Clark said with crossed arms.

"_I didn't hear a no," _Vent said to himself, having _just _come to the conclusion that Brue Wayne was Batman. Of course, the deaths of his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne, would be a _good _reason for anyone to become a crime-fighting caped crusader.

"Clark, dinner's on the table," Martha said stepping out onto the back porch. "Ah, I see you've met Vincent and Raven already."

"Yes, he has," Raven said stepping forward.

"After you," Clark said motioning for Vent to walk in, the brunette keeping an eye on the Man of Steel as he entered the back door.

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><p>A few minutes later the Kent family plus two was having a nice dinner together, Jonathan sitting at the head of the table while Clark and Martha sat beside him, Raven on the other end of the table while Ventus took to sitting across from Clark beside Martha. With the amount of food spread out across the table you'd think it was Thanksgiving. Then again, one of the people at the table <em>could <em>bench press a bus without breaking a sweat, move faster than the speed of light, and shoot lasers out of his eyes, so the guy _would _tend to get pretty hungry.

"So… They know huh?" Jon asked a few minutes later after he was "briefed" on the situation.

"Yeah…" Clark said nervously as he downed a gulp of milk. "I guess maybe I should re-take some of Batman's discipline classes."

"It was an honest mistake. Anyone could've made it," Raven said cutting a slice of turkey before dipping it in some of the gravy. Bringing it to her lips, she couldn't help but shudder at how good a home-cooked meal tasted. She felt so good, so _happy _at the moment, that she didn't really care if anyone saw her or not.

"Relax. We'll help the conspiracy along," Vent said munching on some green beans with bacon.

"_Please _don't say conspiracy. _Question _has been going on about the plastic tips on _shoelaces _at work again," Clark groaned after munching on some sweet potatoes.

"You mean aglets?" Vent asked. "I hear their _true _purpose is quite _sinister_."

"Oh God, not you too," Clark groaned, earning laughs all around. "So anyway…" he said after chuckling a bit as well. "I heard that Batman's sidekick is leading the team. How's that working out for you?"

"Guy's _nothing _like Batman, if that's what you're asking," Vent returned with a huff. "Guy finds out I used to, key words _used to _be trained by a supervillain, and he blows a gasket like you wouldn't be_lieve_."

"Well I don't see _why _he'd flip out if you _used _to be trained by a supervillain. Seeing as how you don't have a criminal record, I don't see how you can be faulted for your upbringing," Clark mentioned before munching on some stuffing.

"Normally that would be the case, but I think it was the fact that I was trained by the guy who's been leading him around the nose that caused him to snap like he did," Vent sighed. "I don't really _blame _him for that since the guy _did _probe us with… probes, but that's _no _reason to have a hissy fit at _me_."

"So… Why're you two so far from home? Halfway across a continent is no small feat," Clark noted setting his silverware down.

"You could say I took a _sabbatical _so that the both of us could cool down a bit," the brunette answered after setting his silverware down too.

"I came along with him for two reasons," Raven said setting her silverware down and cleaning her face with her napkin. "The first was because I have… _family _issues that may cause a similar even to occur again between Robin and I. The second is because… I'm worried for my friend."

"Friends are a good thing to have in _any _occupation," Clark said as he got up and put his empty plate in the sink. "Why don't you two head off to the living room and watch some TV or something. I'd like to catch up with my parents."

"Sure thing Clark," Vent said after finishing his plate. "Here. Let me take that for you," he said taking the blue-clad mage's empty plate to the sink as well.

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><p>For the next few hours, while Clark AKA Superman spent the time with parents <em>–who were most likely his <em>adoptive _parents since it was common knowledge that Superman came to Earth from another planet-_, Vent and Raven the TV at reduced volume. The satellite uplink was pretty basic with not too many extra channels, or the ones they themselves were used to with the best TV connection money could buy, but the two of them made due. Watching Animal Planet, Raven wondered how Beast Boy could get his ass kicked so many times with all the _-admittedly amazing- _animals he could transform into, Vent answering that the changeling didn't have the emotional fortitude to cause any lasting injury. Then again, that was probably for the best, since it would be hard for the "green jester" as Raven put it to help people if they were afraid of him, and I mean _really _afraid of him. After all, if the guy snapped, he could quite _literally _rip a person to shreds with his bear hands. You heard me right, _bear _hands.

"Well, I think we've tied you up long enough," Vent said getting up from his seat after the Kents came into the room to check up on them. "We were just passing through, so we'll get out of your hair."

"You're leaving? At this hour?" Martha asked turning to the clock. "Why not stay here, get a fresh start in the morning?"

"Um… Well… What do you think Rae?" Vent asked turning to Raven. Honestly he had hoped to be gone sooner rather than later, but maybe it _would _be better if they got a good night's sleep before heading out. Especially him since those HIVE beds weren't really all that comfortable.

"I… could use a little sleep," she noted nervously.

"Alright, I guess we're staying," Vent returned.

"That's good to hear," Martha said with a smile. "As long as Kara isn't here, you can have her room," she said pulling Raven to the stairs.

"And I'll set out the pull-out cot," Jon said leading Vent to the living room.

At the same time upstairs, Martha led Raven up to a doorway just past the stairs, opening the door to a darkened room.

"Here you are. You should be nice and cozy," Martha said flipping the lights on, revealing a rather… pink room.

"Yes… Nice and cozy," Raven said noting all the pink. _Not really my style… But I suppose I can put up with it for one night, _she thought to herself. "Thank you for letting us stay here."

"It's no trouble," Martha said with a smile. "Why don't you go to bed. A girl your age needs her _beauty _sleep after all," she said motioning to the brunette setting up the pull-out cot downstairs, giggling slightly seeing the gray-skinned girl blush as she got ready to go to bed.

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><p><strong>HOURS LATER…<strong>

Everything was dark, the cold stony ground beneath her feet being the only certainty. It was black in nearly every direction, almost like a void. It frightened her with how quiet everything was. Not even her own heartbeat could be heard or even felt. She knew it was a dream, seeing as how she was back in her usual monk attire rather than in the lavender PJs Star had convinced her to buy during one of their trips to the mall. Something about the "party of slumbering" or something like that.

Seeing as how it was a dream, she did what the monks of Azar taught her to when she found herself in the spirit world. Walk forward, don't look back, but most importantly, wait for whatever message she was meant to receive to be delivered.

"_**Do you honestly believe he will remain by your side once he knows?"**_a deep bellowing voice suddenly said from behind her as a wall of flames suddenly rose up into the void sky, a massive shadow looming over her. Turning around, she was greeted with the sight of a giant red-skinned ogre much like the one from before. This one however stag-like antlers on his head forming a crown-like shape, and with darker armor around his wrists and abdomen. The figure towering over her, waist hidden beyond the edge of the cliff that led into the flame-filled oblivion of her mind, was Trigon. Her father.

"He… He's my friend. He trusts me… Just as I do him," Raven returned with all the resolve she could muster. She knew for a fact that this wasn't real, but it didn't help that the image was so lifelike.

"_**Trust will not save him, or anyone else. Especially when I already hold his life in the palm of my hand,"**_he said bringing something into the light from past the shadows, Raven's eyes widening when she saw the crimson-eyed brunette struggling to get out of the demon's grip, the red-skinned hand around his neck like a vise even as he struggled valiantly.

"Let him go!" Raven shouted. Even _if _this was a dream, it still felt so real.

"_**You hold no power over me. Your destiny was decided from the day you were born,"**_ the demon bellowed with a grin visible on his features as he tightened his grip on the brunette's neck, the boy flailing as his face began to turn red_. __**"It will be so easy to destroy everything you cherish in this world when the time draws nigh. Just like breaking-" -crack- "-a toothpick,"**_ he said with a dark grin as he snapped the brunette's neck with a cruel flick of his wrist, the boy's formerly-flailing hands falling limply to his sides a moment later, head lolling back limply.

"No…" she cried as her father laughed in a deep bellow, tossing the now lifeless body at her feet, landing with a low thud. "Vent… Vent…?" she pleaded as she kneeled beside him, blood slowly flowing from the corner of his mouth with lifeless eyes looking up at her, slowly clouding over. "No…"

"_**Hahahahahaha,"**_the demon laughed as his daughter slowly fell into the throes of despair.

"No…" Raven cried on the verge of tears as she looked down at the lifeless form at her feet.

"_**AH HAHAHAHAHAHA!"**_the demon bellowed as the blue-clad mage's heart slowly broke at the sight, threatening to shatter.

"NOOOOOOO!" she cried suddenly jolting awake, the door to the room being kicked in moments later, Jonathan carrying a bat in his hands while Clark came in with muscles visibly tensed against his evening wear. The guy was bulletproof so he had nothing to worry about.

"What is it? What happened?" Jonathan asked as Clark looked around with his X-Ray vision, finding no one in the room apart from Raven, who at the moment was rushing out of the room and down the stairs past both him and his father.

"Vent! Vent!" she cried as she ran down the stairs into the living room, the brunette in question waking up from his spot on the pull-out bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Raven… What's wrong?" he asked getting the last of the sleep out of his eyes, which snapped wide open when the girl threw herself at him, arms wrapped tightly around his waist as she cried into his chest. "Are… Are you crying?" he asked as he felt his heart clench, the lavender-clad mage sobbing and tightening her grip on him with every racking sob. "Raven, whatever it was was only a dream. It'll be okay," he said rubbing her back as Jon and Clark came down the stairs to the scene that greeted them, Martha poking her head around the corner to see the blue-haired girl openly sobbing into the brunette's chest, holding onto him as though he'd disappear if she let go.

"Vent… Please don't go… Don't go… Don't go…" she sniffed as the tears began to slow, trying to shake away the image of his lifeless body at her feet out of her mind.

"Raven… I'm not going anywhere… I promise…" Vent said soothingly as he continued to rub the girl's back, the mage nodding in return as she continued to hold onto him.

"_Boys,"_ Martha whispered getting her husband and adoptive son's attention. _"I think we can leave them be,"_ she said in a motherly tone, the two nodding as they headed back to their own rooms, Clark keeping an eye on the lavender-clad mage clutching onto the brunette out of the corner of his eye before entering his own room. The way she bolted up, it reminded him of when Dr. Destiny had gotten into his head, making his worst nightmares come to life.

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><p>" . . . Are you sure you're okay?" Vent asked Raven a few minutes later as they sat in the dining room, both drinking a cup of green tea. The entire time he was making the tea, Vent noticed that Raven had at least <em>one <em>hand fisting his clothing, or that she was keeping him as close to her as possible. Now however she was sitting next to him, sipping her tea as calmly as she could, the lavender-clad mage currently resembling Lonely from when he entered her mind. Details were a bit hazy due to the tofu, which thankfully he had a viable reason for never having to eat, so all he had were second-hand accounts. _God if things were that bad from tofu, I wonder what my first _hangover _is going to be like, _he pondered.

"I'm… fine…" Raven sighed as the image of her friend's lifeless body slowly faded from her mind. She could almost _feel _her emoticlones breaking it apart in disgust. Or at least _Disgust _was anyway. "I… just had a bad dream."

"It had to be more than that," Vent said facing her. "Otherwise you wouldn't have held onto me like I was going to disappear if you let go."

"I…" Raven said trying to deny his claim, only to find she couldn't. What she wouldn't give for even a _hint _of Brave's bravery at that moment. "It wasn't a bad dream… More like… a nightmare," she said as her hands began to shake, Vent placing his hands around her own, calming her down a bit before she could speak again. "It… It had to do with my father."

"I see… So what did that have to do with _me_?" he asked.

"In my… nightmare, he hurt you… No… _killed _you…" she said softly, feeling the brunette flinch slightly. "I… I was so scared… I knew it was a dream, but I just couldn't stop myself… I had to make sure… make sure you were okay," she said hiding her eyes with her bangs.

"You don't have to talk about your father if you don't want to," Vent said in a calming voice as he caringly pat her hands. "This must all be so sudden, me telling you my life's story, and wanting to tell me in return if you don't feel you're ready."

"It's more than that," Raven sighed as she set her cup aside, grasping his hands with her own. "You have no idea what my father is like… What he plans to do."

"Well… I guess I know _why_ that letter from my alternate self said to kick your dad's ass if I ever met him," he said with a chuckle, trying to lighten up the mood. "How about we go to bed? We can head out in the morning. Wherever you want," he said getting up, helping the girl to his feet seeing as how she was still pretty down. Taking his hand, the girl was led toward the stairs after everything was put away. However, the girl then stopped, causing the brunette to look down at her. "What's wrong?"

"I… I want to stay with you tonight…" she found herself admitting, hoping she wasn't coming off too strongly like _Terra _had before.

"Say wha?"

"Please," Raven pleaded. "It'll help ease my mind. Especially after…" she trailed off.

" . . . Alright," Vent sighed, knowing it would be a losing fight if he tried to say no. Without a word the two tiptoed into the living room, the brunette moving to the side of the pull-out cot as Raven laid down next to him. Pulling the covers up to her neck, the lavender-clad mage settled in next to him, holding his hand as she leaned toward him.

"_Goodnight, Vincent," _Raven whispered softly as she felt her eyelids droop close.

"_Goodnight… Rachael," _Vent whispered in return. The two were so tired, both physically and emotionally, that they didn't notice just how _close _they were to one another. Boy would _someone _be in for a surprise the following morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Legend of Zelda (Twilight Princess).**

**Author's Notes:  
>Ventus' first name being Vincent was actually an idea I came to when <strong>_**nightmaster000 **_**mistook that for Ventus' name, and from there I decided to make it his first name. As for his surname being Valentine, I thought it would be a bit of a play on words. First, with his surname being Valentine, he'd have the same name as the guy from Final Fantasy VII. Second, well, use your imagination. Raven's name being Rachael is perfectly Canon. Just check the site for yourself.**

**On note of my description for Superman's (AKA Clark Kent's) house, I used the Christmas special of Justice League for it since it was the most concurrent. As for Clark's parents (Jonathan and Marthat Kent), I hope I portrayed them pretty well.**

**As for Ventus/Vincent and Raven/Rachael meeting Clark and finding out he's Superman, take off the glasses, put a picture next to him, and it isn't that hard to figure out that Clark's Superman.**

**As for the aglet thing, it was paraphrased from the episode where Question was being interrogated by Cadmus. Or at least before their base was blown up.**

**For Raven/Rachael's nightmare, I thought it would be a good bit of "emotional foreboding" for when/if she gets around to telling Ventus/Vincent her story.**


	23. Soul Sabbatical PT II

**Hello readers, and welcome to a new installment of Teen Titans: One of Four Elements. Not much to say pre-chapter, except that I can only respond to comments through Reviews when the person has an actual FanFiction Profile to send the message back to. If you leave comments through Revies intended for me to answer to (potentially), I can't reply to them if the Reviews are made anonymously.**

**That I've said aside, enjoy the chapter.**

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><p>The following morning at the Kent residence, the main residents had woken up bright and early, preparing for the day even before the sun had crested the horizon. Jonathan and Martha were going to have a nice walk through town with their son before he had to head back to Metropolis and catch up with the time they had, so they intended to make the most of the time they had, preparing a hearty breakfast to give them the energy they needed for the day. It was as the platters of eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, and gravy were being set on the table that Jonathan and Clark tiptoed into the living room, <em>Vincent <em>and Raven snuggled up under the covers in an intimate, yet innocent way. After what happened last night with the normally-stoic girl freaking out like she did and running into the boy's arms practically _bawling_, there were no qualms with them being in the same bed, since by the way she was crying, Raven needed as much comfort as she could get after whatever it was she saw. Martha knew from the moment she saw her that she was a very strong girl, and wasn't the type to cry unless something _really _got to her, so she was glad she had someone like Vincent to watch over her.

It was at this very moment that Jonathan was holding up an aged cowbell, while Clark held up a silver triangle and wand. Seeing what they were about to do to the sleeping couple, whether or not that was the case, Martha chose fit to speak up.

"_Boys, you shouldn't jostle them up like that. Raven had a very hard night, and you _know _how cranky Vincent was being woken up before he was ready don't you?"_ Martha asked. To say that Vent wasn't a morning person was an understatement, or at least that was the case when he was last there. As for now she wasn't sure, but by appearances he was perfectly comfortable sleeping as he was. His past was a good indicator as to why he was so comfortable at the moment.

"_Oh come on Ma, it's already eight. They should've been up an hour ago at the _least_," _Clark said getting ready to wake the two.

"_And besides. They sleep in any longer and they'll miss breakfast," _Jon said getting ready to swing the cowbell around. In his teenage years, Clark was a _real _sleeper and needed at least _two _cowbells going to wake him up if the alarm clock didn't wake it or, on the rare occasion, he fried it with his "laser eyes" before it could fully rouse him from his slumber.

With a sigh, Martha could only sit back and watch, knowing that when Jon made up his mind about something, there was no stopping him. Something that Clark inherited with gusto, even if they weren't blood relatives. It was when Jon began banging his cowbell and Clark whacking his triangle that they ended up an inch away from needing a trip to the hospital.

_**CLANG-LANG-LANG-LANG-LANG!**_

_**RIN-RIN-RIN-RIN-RIN-RIN-RING!**_

At that moment Vent's crimson eyes snapped open, every muscle across his frame before he suddenly tensed, supporting his body's weight on his hands and causing Raven to bounce in the air slightly. A moment later the brunette delivered a bicycle kick to Clark's forehead, the kinetic force combined with the surprise behind it causing the man to fall back onto his ass with a low _**-thud-**_against the hardwood floor. As Clark's triangle clanged against the floor when it left his hand, the brunette's feet touched, but only for an instant before his gaze jerked to the right, his left hand going to the man's shoulder and bringing him to the ground with a slightly _louder_ **-THUD-**, his right fist suddenly descending toward the graying man's face, Martha's eyes widening before a loud _**-FWAP-**_rung out through the air, Clark's open hand appearing and holding the brunette's fist an inch away from his adopted father's forehead at the last possible second. The atmostphere was tense for a few seconds, but after Vent blinked a few times to clear out the cobwebs, his eyes suddenly snapped open before he leapt away like one would from a poisonou snake, the aerokinetic immediately getting to his hands and knees, his forehead kissing the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I was tense from last night, and that talk yesterday brought up old habits and- Oh god I'm so sorry!" Vent apologized profusely.

"I _told _you not to wake them," Martha said after calming her beating heart. One part of her was happy to be _right_, but another was trying to calm down from watching both her husband and adoptive son being taken down so quickly. The fact that there was such a loud fwap'ing sound from when the brunette's fist made contact with Clark's hand showed just how much force was behind it, showing that the brunette hadn't been slacking.

"I uh… guess we should've taken your advice Ma," Clark said rubbing his forehead as he shook his hand. That hit actually _stung_, and he was surprised the brunette hadn't broken his toes with the force it took to do that. Of course had he known who trained the brunette in the _first _place, he wouldn't have found it so surprising.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Jon said getting to his feet and straightening out his shirt. That look in the brunette's eye was like when they first caught him sleeping in their barn, hidden in a bale of hay; the look of a person long cut away from others, acting only in their own self-interest. Were it not for Martha's motherly words at the time, the brunette may've _never _turned into who he was now.

"What happened?" Raven asked as she sat up in the bed, having missed the whole thing as she was clearing out the cobwebs in _her _head. Something about the previous night's sleeping arrangements made for a very restful sleep.

"Nothing much, just a… morning workout," Clark said trying to play things down. He knew for a fact never to mess with a teenage girl in the mornings or after they woke up when they were dealing with emotional problems. Kara burned through her fair share of ceilings that way during the whole mess with Galatea. _And don't even get me _started _on the melted alarm clocks, _he sighed to himself. _I went through so many excuses at the electronics store I could probably write a _book _about it._

* * *

><p>After all parties had gotten dressed, the Kent Family, Vent, and Raven all enjoyed a quaint breakfast, happily stuffing themselves; Vent and Raven though kept to themselves as the Clarks family got caught up, not wanting to intrude on their family moments. It was after the plates were put in the dishwasher that the group had headed into town, Vent and Raven's stuff packed in their backpacks as they stood in front of the bus station at the edge of town. Coincidentally, it was the same bus stop that Clark had used to first leave Smallville, but that was a minor detail at the moment.<p>

"Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?" Martha asked. "You're still a part of the family, even if your last name isn't Kent."

"I appreciate the thought, but Rae and I have other plans," the brunette chuckled as he scratched the back of his head.

"Thank you for having us. It was… nice," Raven returned with a slight bow.

"Well don't be strangers now, you hear?" Jon said, the brunette nodding as the two headed off, the Kent family heading back to town to spend the day with their son while the two teens headed for the stop, hoping to catch the next bus out of town. As for which direction, that had yet to be decided.

"So I guess we're going further west?" Raven asked as the two moved through the crowd. At the moment Vent was wearing khaki cargo pants, a blue hoodie, and red and white sneakers with yellow designs on the sides. Raven herself was wearing a black hoodie with white wing-shaped patterns on the back with a white T-shirt underneath and faded black jeans, experimenting with different color schemes. Given the two's attire, they looked like a mismatched couple if there ever was one. _SLOTH! _she growled.

"_What? The two of you look _nothing _alike in terms of attire,"_ the orange-clad emoticlone said rudely.

_Someone _please _hit her upside the head, I _so _don't need this right now_, Raven grumbled to herself.

"Yeah," Vent answered, not noticing Raven's brow twitching maddly. "Unless you want to go home of course."

"You do that and Robin will _never _learn his lesson," the mage said as her attire flashed dark green for a moment before she clapped her hands over her mouth. Honestly, why did this keep happening?-!

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Vent said, not noticing the uncharacteristic statement that left the mage's lips. "Thinking about it… Maybe we should take a bus ride into the next state, then do another _jump _to my intended destination. If you're up to it of course," he said turning to her.

"Hey, I'm here for you, so don't worry about it," she said in a chipper tone as she pat his back, barely catching herself as her attire flashed pink. Seriously! What was happening?

"Alright then. I'll get the tickets, you wait by that snack machine," he said taking out his wallet before passing her a couple bills. "Here. Get yourself a snack for the trip if you're hungry," he said before heading to the ticket booth, skillfully weaving through the crowd without bumping into anyone. She wasn't worried about funds since she knew he was frugal with his money, and knowing him, he'd saved the $2500 dollars from the dog show for a "rainy day". It was at that time that her T-Comm. went off, the girl turning to a corner and opening it.

"Raven. Raven do you read me?" Robin asked from the other end of the line.

"Robin I _swear _to Azar if you accuse Vent of _kidnapping _me, I'll send you _straight _to Lucifer," the mage growled as she glared at the Boy Wonder on the other side of the screen.

* * *

><p><strong>Same time at the Tower…<strong>

"Whoa whoa! That wasn't my intention at all!" Robin said waving his hands in front of himself.

"_That isn't what you were saying waiting for her to pick _up_," _Cy grumbled under his breath off to the side.

"Listen, Robin. I'm normally very complacent in these matters and I put up with a lot from all of you, but you have _no _right to treat Vent the way you have been," Raven growled as her narrowed eye filled the screen, causing the Boy Wonder to recoil in fear. "Vent has done nothing but _help _us since day one, and you've only had an _axe _to grind against him since then. Just because he's a little _different _does _not _give you the right to treat him like you have. Es_pecially _as a leader."

"But Raven-" Robin stammered.

"No, you listen to _me_ hair-gel boy!" Raven spat back. "You want to know what _I _think? I think you're just _jealous_," the mage spat, causing Robin to recoil in horror, while Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Star were slack-jawed at how the normally-emotionless Raven was _tearing _into their leader. Karma's a bitch if there ever was one. "He's fought you on even grounds at every turn, when it's come up, he's got superpowers, _and _he can balance his hero and social lives. You just can't stand not being the top dog, so I bet that's why you've been ripping into him like you have. _Haven't _you?"

"Look Rae, here's how it is," Cy said roughly shoving Robin out of the way, sending him crashing to the floor. "We're just worried is all. We wanted to make sure you're okay."

"You mean me _and _Vent, _right_?" Raven asked with narrowed eyes.

"O-Of course!" Cy stammered back.

"Yeah. The guy may've given me an atomic _super-_noogie, but I never lost faith in him," Beast Boy said over the cyborg's shoulder.

"Yes. We are missing you both most dearly, and wish you the best of luck as you venture forth to find yourselves," Star said joyously.

" . . . Alright. I'll believe you," Raven sighed as her expression calmed. "However, unless Robin gets a _major _attitude adjustment by the time we get back, I'm going to do it _for _him, and it _won't _be pretty. _That_, I can guarantee."

"Hey Raven. I got the tickets," Vent's voice said from over the mage's shoulder. "The guys call back yet? Robin try tearing me a new one?" he asked, the Boy Wonder rubbing the bridge of his nose, mostly since she had hit the nail right on the head. Maybe he _was _a bit jealous, but mostly because the brunette could do so much _more _with his power, but was squandering it by treating this like a game.

"No. Just checking my makeup," Raven said on the other end of the line, most likely because the T-Comm. _was _shaped like a compound.

"But you don't wear makeup," Vent returned.

"Mine is a _natural _beauty," Raven said cutting off the line as she closed the screen.

* * *

><p><strong>Back at the bus stop in Smallville, Kansas…<strong>

"You certainly are," the brunette said with a smile, Raven blushing slightly at the compliment. "Anyway, I got us a pair of tickets for the next Greyhound bus out of town. We should be in Colorado by sundown."

"That's good. It'll give us plenty of time to talk, even if we aren't actually talking," Raven returned as she took her ticket from his extended hand, heading to the lot in the back.

"Hm? What do you mean by that?" Vent asked as he followed here. Were they holding hands, they would've looked like the perfect couple, even if mismatched given the different… affiliations of their attire and bearing.

"You'll see," Raven said with a smile. After their little night together, she felt slightly more confident in confining with him. She owed him that much after he confided in her after all.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later after stashing their bags and buying a few snacks for the road, Vent and Raven settled themselves into the back of the bus by the window. The bus was half-full and wasn't scheduled to leave for a few minutes, so the two were having a hushed conversation in their own little corner. Raven had casted a ward around them to make their conversation quieter, so they could talk about <em>work <em>as much as they wanted without anyone hearing it.

"You know, now that I think about it, Latin _is _a dead language, so maybe having my superhero name be the _Latin_ word for "Wind" may be a bit too obscure," Vent pondered.

"Maybe, but superheroes _do _have more than one name in some instances, so you can have _both _names but only call yourself one out in the open," Raven stated. "I mean after all Superman is also called "the Man of Steel", and Batman from what I hear bears the moniker "the Dark Knight", so you being called Vent but also Ventus wouldn't be that much of a stretch."

"Hm. Maybe. I guess Vent would be more marketable," the brunette stated. "If I ever _took _that path that is. Don't wanna turn into another _Booster Gold_, right?" he chuckled.

"The guy who came from the future?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Guy's kinda cool, in a _laughable _sort of way, but he just comes on too strong and no one can take him seriously," the brunette said as he leaned back into the seat, looking off into the green and blue horizon. "That's probably why guys like Batman, Superman, and the _rest _of the original Justice League have posters in little kid's rooms across America. They don't _force _themselves down people's throats. They just do their job while holding an air of silent dignity."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask, but while you were… living on your own, did you ever _see _Batman?" Raven asked.

"Just about as much as any other thug gets to see. A bat-like silhouette swooping down and drop-kicking some random thug into the ground," Vent sighed, growing silent for a few moments before looking back at her. "Raven, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Slade and I sooner. The guy had our lives in the palm of his hand, and I guess after that happened, I didn't want you to think I was the same as him. I… I didn't want any of you to hate me because of the person I used to be," he said nervously.

"It's alright, Vent. Slade may've been your teacher, but the two of you are nothing alike," Raven said placing her hand on his own. "I mean, Robin was _Batman's _sidekick, but the guy's _nothing _like the Dark Knight. I mean, the guy's dressed like a _traffic _light. What's up with that?"

"I know right? Nothing says 'shoot me' more than bright fluorescent colors," the brunette chuckled, the bus suddenly lurching forward, the hydraulics hissing and the engine running as the last of the passengers boarded, the bus rolling forward and out of the station a moment later. "Well, it looks like we're leaving."

"Yeah…" Raven said as she put on her seatbelt, just in case. Remembering something, she looked around to make sure no one was looking, then to Vent's surprise, her arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly before she let go a few seconds later.

"Uh..." Vent said slightly red-faced. "Not that I don't enjoy your hugs, but that was very… spontaneous."

"Just keeping a promise," the mage replied, hiding a blush at how he said he enjoyed her hugs.

"To who? Starfire?" the brunette asked.

" . . . Yes," the mage returned evenly.

"Oh, alright then," the brunette said in understanding, Raven sighing, as well as ignoring the recent addition to the voices in her head telling her to pinch his ass. Since there was nothing to do at the moment, Raven still collecting her thoughts, as well as herding the more _troublesome _ones to the back of her mind, the mage decided to take a short nap, the brunette doing the same beside her a few minutes later after they left Smallville.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at the Tower, the team had just gotten back from busting Dr. Light down a few notches, the villain apparently having gotten enough therapy to come to the conclusion that what Raven did to him, <em>whatever <em>she did to him, was "not real". He had questioned where the aerokinetic and mage were during the fight, but Robin was still trying to cool his head after the way Raven tore into him over the "phone" in return for when he did so to the brunette, so he pretty much wailed on the guy until he lost consciousness in order to vent, no pun intended. By that time the cops had finally gotten there, Cy and Star had to pull the Boy Wonder off before he took out all his frustrations on the light bulb-themed villain and actually _killed _the guy.

It was at this moment that the remaining two thirds of the team were in the living room, Star in the kitchen cooking "the dinners of the earthly television", while the guys were sitting on the couch and watching the news. As Robin feared, word had gotten out of how Ventus and Raven weren't present for Dr. Light's recent heist, people already drawing conclusions as to why, a few eyewitnesses having been given their opinion.

"I see them flying in the sky sometimes. Maybe _that's _where they were_,_" a little boy holding his mom's hand suggested with rare clarity found in a world filled with color TV and internet downloads.

"Probably on a date or something. Kids go on dates nowadays right?" an elderly man asked stroking his beard.

"Maybe the two of them eloped or something," a blond-haired girl suggested.

"Hahahaha!" Beast Boy chuckled. "Yeah, like _that's _going to happen. Yahahahahaha!"

"You're just jealous 'cause Vent's got more girls than _you_ Beast Boy," Cy chuckled at the changeling's expense.

"Hey, chicks _dig _the pointy ears," BB huffed.

"On what planet?" the cyborg asked.

"On my home planet of Tamaran, the ears are one of the least-noticed qualities of my people," Star said from the kitchen after taking out the last of the TV dinners.

"Turn it off. I'm not in the mood," Robin grumbled as he listened to more people go on and on about Vent and how he was missing.

"Maybe Robin kicked him off the team," a brown-haired kid munching on a slice of pizza suggested. "I saw them all getting pizza once, and the two of them didn't look like they got along that well."

"Looks like _someone _pissed off the Ventus Fanclub," Cy chuckled.

"He has a _fanclub?_" Robin asked in shock.

"Man, we _all _do," Cy said crossing his arms.

"Correct. Friend Cyborg showed me to the website that the club of fans operate from," Star said as she set the dinners down on the table, Beast Boy's nothing but tofu, something he could enjoy now that he didn't have to worry about Vent and his _crazy-ass _mood swings. The whole "Urge to murder Beast Boy" thing kinda terrified him, so he didn't chance setting off the brunette's allergic reactions. "Mine have many pictures of me from mysteriously-low angles though. I wonder why that is so?" she pondered.

_That girl's _way _to naive for her own good, _the guys thought as they dug into their own dinners.

"Still, the club of fans aside, I do hope Ventus and Raven return soon," Star said worriedly.

"Maybe if _someone _didn't jump to conclusions, they wouldn't have left in the _first _place," Cy said looking down at Robin.

"What'd _I _do?-!" the spiky-haired teen demanded. His answer of course was Cy playing back the scathing words he said, mouthing them as he went. "I was only looking out for the welfare of the team," he argued after the recording ended.

"That still wasn't any excuse for the way you treated him," Beast Boy stated.

"Why is everyone treating me like the _bad _guy?" the Boy Wonder cried out.

"Maybe because you're demonizing the guy for no real reason other than you just don't like him," Cy added as he dug into his philly cheese steak.

"That or he's just jealous Vent always kicked his butt," Beast Boy chuckled, Robin grumbling at the group talking about him like he weren't even there.

"Friends, please. We must reconcile soon, or the rekmas really _will _come to pass," Star said worriedly. Just because she'd gone back in time to her friends and put back the Clock of Eternity, which history said was stolen, didn't mean she didn't worry about something just as bad happening. "Is that what you want? For us to grow apart from one another?"

" . . . No," Robin sighed as the full weight of the situation came down on him. "Alright, maybe I _did _go a little too far. But it's only because I'm worried for the team's welfare."

"And you'll apologize for what you said, right?" Cy asked, thinking back to the falling out between himself and Robin not too long ago. _Really, if this happens every time someone has a disagreement with Robin, he really _may _get to go solo._

"Right…" Robin grumbled as he munched on his macaroni. He was a teen of simple tastes.

* * *

><p>Hours later, the <em>nap <em>that Vent and Raven took turned into a full-out snooze-fest, their heads resting beside one another in the back seat of the bus, the low humming of the road and the engine having lulled them to sleep. It was at the time that the sun was descending towards the horizon that Vent found himself wandering amidst Raven's thoughts. Literally.

"Raven? Hello?" Vent asked as he walked down the stone pathway hanging in the red-and-black void of space. "Raven, did you slip your magic mirror in your bag or something?" he asked as he walked under a stone arch, the world suddenly looking like the birthplace of all air fresheners. "Uh… Rachael?" he hazarded.

"Venty!" a happy voice squealed before a body landed on his back, arms going around his neck and a face began nuzzling into his own. "I missed you Vent. How're you doing?" the pink-clad emoticlone asked chipperly.

"Oh hi Joy," Vent said in return as she got off his back, skipping around him until she was standing in front of him, leaning forward slightly and smiling cutely. "Hey um, would you mind telling me how I got in here? This feels way too real to be a dream."

"Oh, Raven finished organizing her thoughts, and now she's ready to tell you about-" Joy said as she looked around. _"You-know-who," _she whispered in a way that no one would hear as though someone were eavesdropping.

"Her father you mean?" Vent asked with a sullen tone, Joy nodding as a worried look crossed her face.

"Yes…" a sullen voice said, Vent turning to see the grey-clad emoticlone standing off to the side, trying to make herself as small as possible. Something difficult to do when you were wearing grey surrounded by an all-pink backdrop. Even moreso with floating strawberries fluttering about.

"Hey Lonely, how've things been?" Vent asked before seeing the _very _worried tone on the girl's face. "Is something the matter?"

"I'm… I'm worried about what you'll think after… after Raven tells you about her father," Lonely said worriedly. "I'm afraid… you'll hate us for it. That you won't like us anymore."

"Lonely… no, _Rachael_," he said causing her to look up at him. "No matter what I hear, I could never hate you… Raven… Okay this is a little bit confusing," the brunette admitted scratching the back of his head.

"Calling all of us Raven or Rachael would be confusing, so it's best to call us the emotions we represent," a yellow-clad emoticlone wearing glasses said coming up to them.

"Ah, I see," Vent stated. "Anyway, you don't have to worry about me hating you. I could _never _hate you…" he said before scratching his head nervously. "I'm still confused. Where's the Raven _I _know?"

"Finishing up," Raven said coming up to the group, seeing that a few of her emoticlones were already there. "I see you're getting acquainted with my… thoughts."

"Yes, and I can kind of tell you're worried about what I'll think after you tell me what you will," he said motioning over to Lonely before stepping up to Raven. "Rachael, no matter _what _you tell me, I promise you, I could _never _hate you for what you are. You accepted who I was and never lost faith in my loyalties. You're my best friend, and one of my precious people. I'll be your friend no matter _what _you tell me," he said taking her hands reassuringly, the mage taken aback by his sincerity, simply looking up at him for a few seconds before returning the sentiment.

" . . . Thank you," Raven said with a smile, leading Vent off to the side, the world of pink gradually changing until they were standing in an exact replica of Raven's room. "Why don't you take a seat. You'll probably want to sit down for what I have to tell- What do you two think you're doing?" she asked as she saw that Joy and Lonely were holding onto Vent, Joy draped on his back while Lonely was hugging his side. Joy could only smile widely, while Lonely just hugged herself closer to him as though he were a lifeline.

"The hug you gave him before was too short," Lonely said plainly.

"Vent has nice broad shoulders," Joy said happily, a pair of hands snaking their way around his stomach and into his shirt a moment later.

"Plus, he's got _great _abs. Heheheheheh," a neon pink-clad said with a perverted giggle as she rubbed the brunette's toned stomach, a chechire cat grin on her face.

"B-B-B-Boundaries! You're invading my boundaries!" Vent suddenly cried at the molestation. The fact that it was coming from Raven in _any _form was the most unsettling, _and _surprising.

"Why don't we see what your little _friend _has to think about that," the neon pink-clad Raven said as her hands descended toward his waistline.

"Back off, bitch! He's _my _man!" a light green-clad Raven shrieked as she came out of nowhere and tackled the neon pink-clad Raven off of Vent's back, a dustcloud surrounding the two's catfight ensuing leaving a dumbstruck Vent in their wake.

"What the-" the brunette gaped before Raven grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side, leaving Joy and Lonely behind to try and sort out this mess.

"Don't ask. Just come with me. Seems I didn't do as much _organizing _as I first thought," Raven said leading him away from the chaos.

"Oh… Okay," Vent said as the world around them changed once more, the two leaving the room look-alike in lieu of something more… tranquil. The area he'd been lead to was like a beach, black rocks with glowing light blue patterns etched into them, a large arch hanging over the distance, a bright moon looming perpetually over a darkened ocean, the waves crashing against the ash-grey sands. _Huh. This looks like that one place in the Dark Realm in Kingdom Hearts, _he thought as he and the mage sat down, the water lapping at their feet. "Quick question. We're both in your mind. What's happening to our bodies right now?"

"Asleep. We'll know if someone tries to wake us up, but for the mostpart we'll have as much time as we need," Raven answered. "Enough time… for me to tell you my story."

" . . . You can begin when you're ready," Vent said with a contented sigh as he laced his fingers behind his head, laying on his back, the mage doing the same beside him.

"Well…" Raven sighed. "Like with you, my story begins at the place of my birth, as well as my parents. My mother, like you, was human; she went by the name Arella, having changed her name from Angela Roth. My father on the other hand… he was a demon; he has many monikers through historic lore, but he commonly goes by Trigon the Terrible. You remember the giant ogre that you, Cyborg, and Beast Boy fought? That wasn't _really _my father, but the demonic part of my heritage trying to usurp control of my body, and using my father's form to do so. It wasn't completely accurate, but as a demoralizing tactic, it didn't really need to be."

"I guess that makes sense, given all the crazy stuff in your mind," Vent said before catching himself. "Not that _you're _crazy. _Everyone _has their crazy pieces. Trust me, I should know," he chuckled nervously.

"It's alright. At least you aren't calling me _creepy_," Raven sighed.

"You're not creepy. Just misunderstood," Vent said facing her with a smile.

"Thanks…" Raven returned. "Anyway, since my mother was a human, and my father was a demon, I'm pretty much what your kind would call a half-demon, a hanyou, or simply half-breed. My mother however, did not conceive me of her own free will. Arella was actually a wayward teen in Gotham who fell for an ocultist in her teenage years, and while I don't know _all _the details, I _do _know that after she was abducted, and I was conceived through means of the ocult. My mother and I then both came to live in a dimension apart from Earth. The realm of Azarath, my birthplace."

"Azarath… I remember you mentioning that once before," Vent said remembering one of the casual chats he'd had with Raven before they became the Teen Titans. She was quite reserved before, and it was amazing how far she'd come since then.

"I did. It was from there and the monks that I learned everything I had, becoming everything I am now. As for when we all met up when Star crashed in front of the pizza place, I had just turned sixteen, returning to Earth to prepare for Trigon's coming. To prepare for… what would happen to me, and what I'm destined to do," she said before growing quiet, turning away from Vent, unable to meet his eyes.

"Raven… Are you afraid of what I'll think once I know the truth about you?" Vent asked, causing the girl's eyes to snap open. "That I'll hate you for something outside of your control? Well I won't!" he said assertively as he punched the sand roughly. "Raven you're my friend, and I always _will _be. Come hell or high water, even if the three kingdoms of heaven, hell, and man turn their backs on you, I will not," he said putting a hand on her shoulder, urging her to look at him.

"Heheh… I didn't know you could be so… philosophical," Raven chuckled as she turned to face him.

"I took up reading a few of those books you mentioned," Vent chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "They're a little dry at first, but I did eventually get the points of them. The tales about the Four Horsemen were pretty cool."

"I'm glad you liked them," Raven said with a smile, pausing for a few moments and listening to the tides before facing him once again. "Vent, what I'm about to tell you, I tell you in absolute confidence. I trust you won't tell any of the others until I do so myself?" she asked, blushing slightly within her hood as the brunette sitting across from her took her hands in his own.

"Rachael, I swear, I'll carry your words to my grave if I have to," he said, noticing the girl flinch at those words. "R-Relax, I won't die that easily. Besides, I'm not _Beast _Boy. I know how to keep a secret."

"You've got that right," Raven chuckled, sitting up and dusting some of the sand off her robes, Vent doing the same with his pants legs. "I could go on and on about the prophecy foretold at the point of my birth, but in this instance it would take away from what I want to tell you," she said before looking off into the distance, one of her hands closing around Vent's in reassurance. "On the eighteenth year following my birth… I'm destined to become the means for my father to escape the realms of Hell, and bring about the end of all things in the mortal realm."

"So then it's an apocalypse kind of thing?" Vent asked, Raven nodding solemly. "No big deal then," he said offhandedly as he laced his hands behind his head and laid back on the sand, causing the girl to look up at him in surprise. "This isn't the first time the world's been faced with an apocalyptic situation. It's happened before, too many times to count, and it'll con_tinue_ happening as long as there's always the bigger fish. If your father is destined to use you as some kind of… portal to crawl out of Hell, then we'll just have to stop him once he gets here. With all of us together, Trigon won't stand a chance," he said reassuringly.

"Yeah… About that," Raven said trying to address one of the details that Vent would be… _less_ than happy to hear.

"**End of the line you two."**

"Who said that?" Vent asked looking up.

"**Wake up. It's the end of the line."**

* * *

><p>"Come on you lovebirds. We're at our last stop, and the two of you need to get off," the Greyhound's bust driver, a man with thinning grey hair, repeated as he shook the mismatched couple's shoulders. After another try, the two slowly woke up, the brunette raising his arms as he yawned, while the grey-skinned girl wearing the headband woke up and, to his amusement, blushed slightly after removing her hand from his, which she had been holding onto before waking up.<p>

"Mornin'," the brunette yawned, seemingly unaware of the flushing girl at his side. "We in Colorado?"

"Yes. 'Bout an hour or two past the east border," he answered. "Go get your bags. It's time for you to leave."

"Right. Thank you sir," the blue-haired girl said as she straightened her clothing from her nap, her compatriot following her out of the bus.

"Hey Rae. What was that last bit you were going to tell me?" Vent asked as he and her friend got their bags.

"It…. It isn't important," Raven said waving her off, though on the inside, her mind was in turmoil. If he reacted so strongly to the _possibility _of almost losing Star, just how would he react to knowing what would happen to _her_, at the destined time of her father's arriving in the human world?

* * *

><p>After a short walk, Vent and Raven found themselves staying in a decent motel for the evening. The owner had actually had the nerve to <em>imply<em> they wanted one bed, but one death-glare from Vent and the man gave the two a two-bed room for half the cost. But mostly after the threat of being charged with harassment. That evening Raven was in the mood for Chinese, to the brunette flew to the nearest resturant that served Chinese before heading back, all without drawing any unecessary attention to himself. Vent noticed as they went to bed that Raven was silent for the rest of the night, facing the opposite wall from him without a word exchanged. The brunette _thought _to ask what she was about to ask him, "unimportant" or not, but he figured that _everyone _was entitled to their secrets, so he let the subject drop as they went to bed.

The next morning, Raven awoke feeling _terrible _about not telling Vent the last and most crucial detail of the prophecy. What would happen to _her _when the time. Then again what _could _she tell him? That no matter what she or anyone else did that she was destined to die? That no matter how much good she did, or that the team did as a whole, that in the end, the world _would _end? Sure, the apocalypse has come about before, and every time it was stopped, but Trigon… His resurrection was an absolute.

As these thoughts went through her mind, she absently made her way to the bathroom, not noticing that the shower was running, or the steam rising out of the crack in the opened door. Taking her brush and running it through her tangled dark blue lochs, she shook the cobwebs out of her head enough to see a figure behind the shower curtain. For reasons unknown, she began to creep towards the curtain, the shower's occupant seemingly unaware of her approach, her blush intensifying with each inch foward. Delicate fingers going to the curtain, she slowly pulled it aside so that the shower curtain rings wouldn't jingle against one another or make a sound. Pulling it aside enough that she could see in however, her eyes widened and the building blush on her face vanished at the sight that greeted her; a large, jagged scar running from her friend's right shoulder to his left hip, the long white streak standing out against his tanned skin "like a sore thumb" as it were. Before the shampooing brunette could turn around and catch her in the act, she phased through the wall via portal, silently throwing herself over the side of the bed and hugging her knees to her chest, the image of that horrendous scar across her friend's back still playing in her mind.

"_Well… I didn't see _that _coming,"_ Brave's voice said from inside her head.

"_What could have possibly happened to him?"_ Lonely asked sadly.

_Brave, Lonely, just how many of you were in on this?_ Raven asked, remembering the sensation of having no control of her body being usurped from her own control, similar to the time that Love made her kiss Vent after the prom thing.

"_What? Knowledge was curious,"_ Brave's voice said, the emoticlone crossing her arms.

"_Only slightly. I never expected so much of your mind to take it seriously," _Knowledge stated as she adjusted her glasses on her face.

"_But still, for Vent to be so _injured_, it's just _horrible_," _Love cried wiping tears from her eye, the emoticlone tempted to have Raven pull the brunette into a hug and never let him out of her sight ever again.

_He… He never mentioned _that _before, _Raven said to herself, her worry for Vent and the curiosity brought on by the sight of the scar across his back temporarily postponing the smackdown she was going to give her emoticlones for making her _do _that. It was bad enough when Love had her pull him into a "steamy" kiss, but almost making her look at his naked body… That was crossing the line.

"_Well _I _think the battle scar makes him look _sexy,_" _Ero-Kara stated with a lecherous grin, flashing the collective of Raven with images of the brunette's muscular physique for all to see. _"And such a well-toned ass to boot," _she added with a wide grin and a perverted giggle.

_This is neither the time_, nor _the place for your perverted habits! _Raven shrieked into her mind, the shower cutting off behind her.

"_Hey, I'm a part of you, so _you're _the real pervert _here_," _Ero-Kara said back, flashing the nude brunette's image at the original to get a rise out of her.

_I'll deal with you _later_, _Raven said as the brunette left the bathroom. _Right now, I need to run damage control in case he knew I was there_, she said turning around, the brunette dried off as the bottom hem of his shirt slid down his back, the mage catching the last glimpses of the jagged scar before he pulled his pants up. "Morning Vincent. Have a nice sleep?" she asked.

"Good morning to you too Rachael," Vent said getting his stuff together, giving off no indication that he knew nothing of her prior "bathroom activities". He ran his fingers through his hair, seeming to have forgotten that it had been cropped short by the way his hands suddenly stopped. Reaching into his bag, he grabbed a small jar of what looked like hair gel, dipping his fingertips into it before rubbing it over his fingers, his hands running through the back of his scalp before styling his hair forward. "What do you think of the new look?" he asked, the look quite different from both his original and the Naruto-esque one he wore before, his short hair now swept forward instead of back.

"You look nice," Raven said in return. "Least you aren't using as much as _Robin _does," she chuckled, remembering just how much _hair _gel the guy burns through each week. Had they taken pictures of Robin pushing an entire _crate _full of hair gel through the ops center that one morning, they would've had enough blackmail to last months, maybe _years_.

"Thank you kindly. I was thinking of just letting my hair grow out again, but I have to admit, the short look works. Maybe I can find myself a nice WWII bomber jacket with the fluffy collar, put some Kevlar in it, and I'll have myself a new costume," he said looking into the mirror, imagining himself in his flight goggles, a bomber jacket, khaki jeans or maybe trousers. Then again he _did _have other plans for a _real _costume, but he'd only get around to making it or at least designing it once he decided to take his superhero career more seriously. Or at least until he found a way to get multiple costumes made, seeing as how Robin had twenty different costumes in his closet.

"That could work, if you want to look like a WWII enthusiast," Raven chuckled.

"Yeah. I guess you're right," Vent chuckled, making his reflection slap away the superimposed image of himself away from himself. "While I may sound like a broken record for asking this, you sure you don't want to go home now? I'm fine with it if you are, and I'm sure even _Robin _will have cooled down his head by now."

"Maybe, though I'd like to spend one _real _day on vacation before heading back. For the mostpart we've only been on the move without any real relaxing," Raven replied.

"Next stop it is," Vent said collecting the last of his stuff. "I'll go return the keys and check us out. Why don't you go and take a shower before we head out."

"Sure thing," Raven sighed as she got up off the bed, heading for the shower after Vent left the room.

"_Hey. Raven."_

_What? _Raven sighed.

"_I bet if you slipped in the shower, that Vent wouldn't hesitate to _rush _in and check up on you," _Ero-Kara said voicing her own opinion, the mage scowling before an idea came to her mind. _**-CLANG- **__"Ow!" _Ero-Kara cried as a bronze basin hit her over the head.

_Ahhh, closure, _Raven sighed as she stripped down and got into the shower.

* * *

><p>A shower and a quick breakfast at the nearby diner later, and the two wayward Titans were once more streaking across the US skies in Raven's "soul self". As the streak of black shot through the sky, it could've easily been mistaken for a meteor, or maybe an experimental aircraft. However it was moving too quickly for anyone to get a good look at. Considering Raven was well-rested before the "jump", the trip would've been a lot easier on her reserves this time around. It was a few minutes later that the two settled down on the back side of another billboard just outside their intended destination, once more dictated by Vent's thoughts. Originally Raven had felt the compulsion to kiss the blond after what she had seen, most likely by Love and a few of her other emoticlones, but thankfully Raven was able to dilute the urge going through her, and instead bring their foreheads together to get a more clear image of where to land.<p>

"Well, we're here," Vent said as the two dusted themselves off, the landing a little rough, but not too rough with all things considered. They _had _just jumped half a continent in maybe... half an hour?

"Yes. So where are we now?" Raven asked before looking up at the sign. "Dakota. When did you ever come here?" she asked, seeing as they were now in California.

"A couple years back. Not sure how many, but while it isn't perfect, the place is still pretty cool," Vent responded before the sound of screaming people rung out through the air. "Not as _quiet _as I remember."

"Come on. Let's see what that scream was about," Raven said dragging Vent around the corner, coming face to face with… a giant armadillo… wearing pants.

"Raven… Do you see what I'm seeing?" Vent asked.

"If by that you mean a giant armadillo wearing pants?" Raven asked. "Then yes, I _do _see it. Azarath Metrion-" she said extending her hand.

"Wait," Vent said lightly clapping a hand over her mouth, pulling her into an alley away from the chaos while no one was looking. "You aren't Raven of the Teen Titans right now. You're Rachael Roth, regular girl on a vacation."

"What are we supposed to do then? Let this thing run wild while we do nothing?" Raven asked back.

"Rae, _every _city has something up its sleeve to deal with stuff like this, and for the ones that don't there's the Justice League," Vent answered. "Besides, I heard Dakota had its own full-time superhero in the mix. If things get bad enough, then we'll step in, but for now, we're on sabbatical."

" . . . Five minutes, but if someone's about to get hurt, I'm stepping in," Raven stated.

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't," Vent returned with a smile, the two peeking around the corner watching the pants-wearing armadillo munching on someone's lunch, not doing much aside from pigging out and scaring the living daylights out of people with his mere presence. A few minutes later, an electric humming and a mechanical whirring sound cut through the air, causing the two to look up into the skyline, a pair of figures coming towards them.

The first, flying an electrified disc was a dark-skinned teen with his hair styled in dreadlocks. He was wearing dark blue boots and black pants, blue stripes running down to his hips with yellow pads on the outsides of his shins. There was a gold belt on his waist, a black shirt with a gold lightning bolt going through a circle on his chest, a blue longcoat with black shoulders, and yellow lining across his back. He had blue gloves on his hands with yellow pads on the backs, and on his face he wore a white mask concealing the upper part of his face, blue sunglasses set above them.

Flying beside him was a white, partially-muscled teen with a thin build flying beside him on light green rocket-propelled roller blades with black and silver trim, rockets rushing out from the bottom. He wore a blue sleeveless jumpsuit with green lining over the shoulders, chest, and the inside of the thighs. He had black gloves on his hands, black knee and elbow guards with silver pads, and a silver mechanical tool belt around his waist. On his back he wore a disc-shaped backpack with four mechanical legs going over his shoulders and around his sides, but not connecting in the center, a red dome on the back most likely some kind of sensor. On his head was a blue helmet with black stripes running down the top, a light green visor on his face, and dark green glasses concealing his identity.

"Hey, who says I'm rollin' alone?" the pants-wearing armadillo identified as Carmendillo said, the wind suddenly picking up around him, as well as multiple sets of footsteps heading in their direction. The armadillo-like thing itself had light brown fur, lighter brown skin, an off-yellow segmented shell with splotches of purple, and a golden ring-shaped earring on its left ear.

"We gonna blow you away foo'," a heavy-set black guy with a goatee similar to Fat Albert said flying down in a purple cyclone. Guy even _sounded _like Fat Albert. He was wearing a blue jumpsuit with short sleeves, a white T-shirt on his upper body, a black belt with grey pouches around his waist, purple and white sneakers, a white visor with a purple slat across the front, a blue hat, and a violet shag carpet on his back like a cape. On his shins he wore violet shinguards with purple caps over his knees, a grey plate strapped to his chest with black elastic strips, a violet cyclone in a purple cyclone emblazoned on the front, purple fingerless gloves with grey plates, purple armguards with violet studs, and purple shoulder guards with violet trim.

"You're so last season, you're going to get _canceled_," a skinny white teen with orange hair said coming forward, two copies of himself appearing at his sides. They all had their hair styled up and swept back, purple longsleeved shirts with violet stripes running across his chest, bluejeans, and black and white sneakers.

"Man, no _wonder _you got canceled. That last line was _lame_," a fourth guy said walking up beside him. He had brown skin, was tall with broad shoulders, and was wearing a red cap on his head, a light blue overcoat, a yellow dress shirt, a red belt, burgundy pants, and blue and white sneakers. Strangest of all though, was that the guy had a speaker _literally _in his chest, kinda like the kind you'd find in a boom box.

At the same time back with Vent and Raven in the side alley.

"Okay… Maybe we _should _step in," Vent said as he began digging into his bag.

"What're you digging around for?" Raven asked looking over his shoulder.

"Something to conceal our identities," he said before noting the strange look he was getting. "What? If everyone here knows what we look like, we won't be able to enjoy our vacation once this is done now will we?" he asked, Raven simply shaking her head before Vent handed her something from her bag, taking something in his own hand.

* * *

><p>At the same time, Static and Gear, AKA Virgil Hawkins and Richie Foley, had just responded to the 911 call about a meta-human attack at the edge of town. Things were simple enough when it was just Carmendillo, but when Slipstream, Replay, and Boom showed up, things got just a <em>little <em>more complicated.

"So you got some third-tier meta-humans on your side. Big whoop," Gear sighed. "Honestly, we've kicked your butts like, fifty times. Can't you just give up for once?"

"Hey, you two may've had us when it was one-on-one, but now it's _four _against _two_," Carmendillo said shaking a fist at them.

"Yeah! No way're we going to lose to you _this _time!" Replay said angrily, not having forgotten how Static had completely humiliated him when they first fought.

"Hey, we're on vacation here! Can't you take your scuffles somewhere else?" a voice said down the street, drawing the two group's attention to a pair of figures walking towards them. The first had tanned skin, an athletic build, and brown hair sticking out of his sleeveless hoodie. He had white fingerless gloves on his hands, khaki cargo pants, and red and white sneakers with yellow designs reminiscent to the ones that Sonic the Hedgehog wore from the game Sonic Riders. Were he wearing green white-rimmed glasses, had blue hair, and ditched the black bandana around his face, he would've been a dead-ringer for the blue blur himself. Walking beside him was a grey-skinned girl with a black hoodie, black faded jeans, and blue sneakers. She had blue hair sticking out of her hood, and a bandana covering the lower half of her face like the person standing beside her, except hers was colored white.

"Who're _you _supposed to be?" Boom asked as he looked dismissively at them.

"Just a pair of kids on vacation, and you're making it kinda hard to enjoy ourselves," the brunette said once again.

"Well why don't you make like a gust and blow?" Slipstream asked as he sent a purple cyclone at the two from his arm. Static and Gear were about to fly down and get the two out of the way before they got hurt, but to everyone's surprise, the brunette's hand suddenly glowed silver before he waved it at the cyclone, a silver wind impacting the purple cyclone and dispersing it to the sides.

"Is that the best you can do? Amateurish at best," the brunette said looking at his nails.

"Hey beat it you two, this ain't any of your business," Boom said launching a sonic attack from his chest at the two. Before it could hit however, a black portal suddenly swallowed them, pulling them into the ground right as the attack hit before the two rose from the ground a moment later, the girl's eyes glowing white before they faded, along with the portal.

"Your movements are too easy to read," the girl said plainly.

"Uh… She related to Ebon? Cause I'm pretty sure that portal thing was about the same," Boom said mostly to himself.

"So…" the brunette began while everyone stood shell-shocked at the fact that they had powers and came in out of _nowhere_. "Is this a private fight, or can anyone join in?"

"Look, we'll talk later, but right now you need to get out of here," Static told the two. They'd displayed _some _power, possibly meta-human, but that didn't mean they were ready for live opponents. That and they didn't need anyone trying to be heroes and get hurt. As far as _he _knew anyway.

"If you're worried about us getting hurt, don't be," the bluette stated as she walked forward, along with her partner. "My friend and I take down chumps like this before lunchtime."

"Pretty big words coming from such a small chick," Boom remarked, seeing as how she _was _the shortest around at the moment. That is unless you exclude Carmendillo's ears.

"Alright, you two can join us. Just try not to get yourselves hurt," Gear told the two. If these four had taken the time to decide to work together, they may have some trouble.

"Don't worry about us. Like I've said, we've done this before," the brunette said as he stepped forward.

"This wasn't part of the plan," Slipstream said over his shoulder.

"Just get rid of these two, and then get to Static and his sidekick," Carmen said rolling towards Gear.

"_Partner_!" Gear shouted as he rushed at the armadillo-like meta-human, Static rushing at Slipstream, while Boom and Replay shot towards the bluenette and brunette.

**Cue Static Shock third opening theme**

"You know, if you dressed like Naruto, you could probably sell yourself off to birthday parties," Vent said after the three redheads became ten and surrounded him.

"You won't be laughing so much when we beat you black and blue," one of the redheads said with narrowed eyes.

"Oh yeah? Well bring it _on _has-been," Vent said making a 'come here' motion with his hand, the ten copies of Replay charging at him at the very painful jab. Replay 1 threw a right punch, but the brunette caught it and pulled him off his feet before nailing Replays 2 and 3 across the face with 1's feet, throwing him into 4 right as 5 rushed at him, the brunette hopping over his head backwards. When his feet touched the ground, he quickly grabbed 5 around the waist before throwing him over his head and into the ground painfully, flipping over his right hand before sitting on the redhead's chest and started punching the clone's face, his forearms going to protect his head while the clones could only sit back and watch the brutality.

"He's just one guy. How's he beating all of us?" Replay 6 asked as 1 through 4 got to their feet, 5 continuing to get his face beaten in.

"For the love of God someone help me!" 5 cried as he felt his arms starting to crack.

"Can't you just make him disappear?" 7 asked.

"Oh, right, I forgot about that," Replay 10 AKA the original said before snapping his fingers, Replay 5 rezzing out from beneath the brunette before he got to his feet.

"What? No smoke when you dispel your clones?" the brunette asked smugly.

"Crack funnies at my ex_pense_ will you?" Replay asked. "Well _no _one makes fun of Johnny Morrow and gets away with it!"

"Johnny who? Never heard of you," the brunette stated.

"Johnny Morrow. _Little _Johnny Morrow," he repeated making air quotes. "Ten years old when I had my own TV series, Johnny on the Spot."

"Oh, I recognize you now."

"Really?" Replay asked hopefully.

"Nope. Never heard of you," he said plainly, causing Replay and the others to scowl "Awwwww. Did I make the little has-been angwy?" the brunette taunted, the remaining 9 clones heading towards him. "Well kiss my ass, bitch, 'cause I got _superpowers_!" the brunette said smacking his rear towards them, the nine rushing at him with angry yells. "Oh yeah. Now _this_, is going to be fun," he said cracking his knuckles, pulling out a set of brass knuckles he… borrowed, from the HIVE Academy before he left. Normally he wouldn't have stolen any equipment from _anywhere_, but said knuckles were pretty high-quality so he decided to keep them. The handles were slightly curved plates of metal with four holes in them for the fingers, another plate of metal arching four times placed over that, probably designed to leave more of a dent.

Poor saps never stood a chance.

At the same time with Raven, she was teleporting from place to place across the street via portals in the ground, resembling a game of whack-a-mole, only the mole was a disguised superhero, and the "whacker" was using a sonic cannon instead of a mallet.

"Honestly, this is just em_barrasing_," Raven said unconsciously channeling Brave, finding it easier, and fun, to taunt enemies like this. "I mean really, a boom box attack. What is this? The 1970s?"

"Why. Don't. You. Just. Stand. Still?" Boom cried as he kept shooting sonic blasts at her, the girl disappearing each time only to reappear, the same smug grin hidden behind her white bandana.

"And why would I do something like _that _when I'm having so much fun?" Raven asked as she dodged yet another blast. Looking over her shoulder, a wicked plan hatched in her mind, unknowingly courtesy of Knowledg and Rage _–who had now cooled down a bit-. _"What's the matter tough guy? Can't even hit the broad side of a _barn_?" she asked as she dodged another two blasts. "Laaaa-aaaame."

"Oh I'll _show _you lame!" Boom growled as he built up enegy, launching the grand-daddy of all sonic attacks at the black-clad mage, the attack tearing across the street only for her to disappear once again, the meta-human's eyes widening when the attack suddenly hit Carmendillo right as he was about to slam into Gear, the armadillo sent flying through the air before crashing into the back of a manure truck."Uh… Whoops?"

At the same time, Static and Slipstream were both dashing through the air, launching electric and wind attacks at one another, narrowly missing by inches, or in Slipstream's case, feet and sometimes yards. They were soon caught off guard when a massive sonic blast tore through the street, a muffled cry meeting their ears. Looking down, they saw Carmendillo sent flying through the air off of one of Boom's sonic attacks and thrown into the back of a manure truck.

"Man, now that's just _nasty_," Static groaned as he waved his hand in front of his nose.

"What chu' fools think you're… doin?" Slipstream asked as he looked down to the other fights, only to see the black clad girl sitting on Boom's chest, which was now fitted with a few plates of steel and a lamp post. Looking off to the other side, he saw eight Replay laid out across the ground in various positions, moaning pitifully as they clutched at parts of their bodies, the original getting _wailed _on by the brunette, whose hood was now down. "Uh, maybe this wasn't such a good idea, you know?" he asked nervously.

"You got _that_ right," Static said before launching Slipstream onto the side of a truck trailer, sticking him to the cargo hold with his Static Cling.

"Well…" Gear said walking over to Static as he landed, looking over the battle-torn street. "_That _was interesting."

"I guess…" Static said as he scratched the back of his head, the sound of fist meeting face ringing through the air, causing the group to look over to the side to see the mysterious brunette _still _beating the stuffing out of Replay, arms held up pitiably as he staved off the vicious onslaught.

"Uh, should we help him?" Gear asked.

"The guy made me out as some kind of criminal. I say this is due karma," Static said crossing his arms.

"True, true," Gear said rubbing his chin, the brunette boredly tossing Replay off to the side before reuniting with his companion, the two deciding to at least say thanks to the two who helped them out.

"So… You've done this before huh?" Static asked as he came over to him.

"Yeah. We're just on vacation," the brunette stated.

"Vacation?" Static asked, earning nods from the two.

" . . . Think we should bring them back to base?" Gear questioned.

"Well we can't just leave them on their own, and they _did _help us out," Static returned before facing the two. "Think you two would mind coming with us?"

"Better than getting the third degree," the bluenette said as a few reporters headed in their general direction.

"Agreed. We'll exchange names on the way," Static said lifting a manhole cover with his electromagnetism, taking the low road so their hideout wouldn't be discovered. They were about to offer the two rides through the "underground highway", but the two flew by their own means, Gear shrugging his shoulders before he flew down, Static dropping down and magnetizing the lid so no one would follow them if they tried.

* * *

><p>"My superhero compadres, I bring you, the Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude," Gear said throwing out his arms as the group entered the back of the abandoned gas station in the middle of Dakota <em>-the<em> exact _middle to be precise_-. Static and Gear were able to learn that the two's names, or at least their superhero alias, were Ventus and Raven, the prior thinking of changing his name to just Vent. The most they were able to get at the moment were that they were a couple out-of-town superheroes looking to get a little down-time, and that they'd talk some more when they got to the "base".

"Abandoned Gas Station… of Solitude," Raven said plainly.

"Not best of names, but far from the worst," Vent said as he looked around.

"Hey, it may _look _old and dilapidated, but this has been our secret base for _years_ without anyone suspecting that we use it," Gear said patting one of the walls defensively.

"_I can see why," _Raven remarked sarcastically.

"Well I suppose it's better than having a building with a thunderbolt logo slapped on it," Vent said as he slipped off his bandana, Raven doing the same much to Gear and Static's confusion.

"Why're you taking your masks off?" Static asked.

"They're only temporary so we can enjoy our break. Normally we don't _wear _masks," Vent said plainly. "Back home _everyone _knows who we are, so we don't worry about concealing our identiy. Hell, half of us can't even _with _masks."

"Sounds… tough," Static thought, imagining how hard it would've been to have a secret identity if the Bang Baby gas had done anything to him _aesthetically_.

"Yeah, but enough about us. What about you… Virgil Hawkins," Vent said facing Static.

"Um, uh, I have no idea what you're talking about," Gear said nervously.

"Word to the wise, don't leave your bus pass lying about where anyone can find it," Vent said pulling up a bus pass labeled **Virgil Hawkins **up from the table.

_If Batman found out about this, he'd never let me hear the end of it, _Virgil groaned to himself. "Cat's out of the bag," he sighed as he took his mask off.

"Dude, what're you doing?" Gear asked pulling Virgil off to the side and pulling his mask back on. "Are you _trying _to hand out our secret identities?"

"What's it matter if we do? Didn't you make that memory erasure device last week?" Virgil asked, referring to the MIB-esque memory-altering device they'd set up in case anyone came snooping around their HQ.

" . . . You've got a point, I guess," Gear sighed as he took off his helmet, wiping some sweat from his forehead. "So, you two are affiliated with a superhero team then?"

"Back on the east coast, yes," Raven returned. "My friend here is an aerokinetic, while I myself am a mage. What about you? I know that _you _can manipulate electricity," she said pointing to Virgil. "And I know that _you _use gadgets," she said pointing to Richie.

"It isn't _just _electricity. It's also electro_magne_tism," Virgil argued. Really, addressing one but not the other was like downplaying him to the role of _sidekick_.

"So then you can control the wind. Explains how you burst Slipstream's cyclone," Richie noted.

"Yeah, but like I said, his powers are amateur at best," the brunette said off-handedly before his eyes went to the blond's feet. "Jet Blades?" he asked with widened eyes. "Dude! Where can I _get _a pair?" he said excitedly.

"You can't. Made 'em myself," Richie said with a grin.

"Dude do you know how _fast _I could fly with something like this?" Vent asked looking at them as though he'd found the Holy Grail. "Combined with my powers, I could probably break the _sound _barrier. _Twice_!"

"He's very hyped up about this isn't he?" Virgil asked the ash-skinned girl.

"You should see him fighting over the last slice of _pizza_," Raven noted. After that one wind-powered noogie, Robin looked like someone put his hair through a blender.

"Hey Rich, think you could make me a set of rocket-powered _sandals_?" the brunette asked hopefully. "I mean _sure _I can fly on my own, but it takes a _lot _of concentration to keep the thrust-to-mass ratio going."

"How much we talking? Five-to-one? Ten-to-one? _Fifteen-_to-one?" Richie asked.

"Not sure…" Vent stated. "Think you can measure it?"

"Is time _linear_?" Richie asked, only to earn a confused look from the brunette. "_*Sigh* _I'll set something up," he said digging through his stuff. An air-speed measuring device would be easy enough to cook up.

* * *

><p>"While it isn't <em>specialized <em>or anything like that, I've been able to determine that at the most, your aerokinetic abilities can move air at the equivalent to a Category 5 hurricane," Richie stated after whipping up an anemometer with some of the stuff around the "Abandoned Gas Station of Solitude". "Have you ever tried anything more wide-spread before? It kinda looked like you were holding yourself back. Of course I don't _mind_ since we're indoors. That wind you kicked up threw my blueprints all _over _the place," he said as Virgil and Raven collected the scattered pieces of paper.

"Most I've ever been _willing _to do was make a tornado about a hundred feet tall and fifteen wide. I'm afraid if I tried anything more that it would spiral beyond my ability to control," Vent said lacing his fingers together.

"Yeah. I remember the time _Virgil _here sent me flying with an overcharged high _five_. Sent me five feet back with just a _tap_," Richie chuckled.

"It wasn't my fault. It was Mr. _Sun's_," Virgil argued with crossed arms.

"Mr… Sun's?" Raven asked with a raised brow.

"It was a sunspot cycle. Caused his powers to go _way _out of control," Richie answered. "Had to wait for things to cool back down before he got a grip them again."

"So… What can _you _do?" Virgil asked turning to Raven. "I know you're a mage, but that isn't a lot to go on."

"I can move objects with my mind, create portals, and travel through the shadows," she answered plainly.

"Like Ebon?" Virgil asked.

"Virg, you need to remember they aren't from around here," Richie stated. "Ebon's the name of a meta-human, one of the strongest around here. Guy's a _literal _shadow, and traveling through portals and shadows is his forte."

"So that Big Bang gas was a pretty big deal around here huh?" Vent asked with crossed arms.

"_Big_ time. We've got 'em crawling out of the woodwork at least once a _week_," Virgil stated.

"Random question. Have there been any reports about earthquakes, avalanches, or mudslides in the area?" Raven asked.

"None in the past six months. Why?" Richie asked.

"Just keeping my eyes out for a certain troublesome blond," the mage answered.

"Geokinetic. _Very_ powerful," Vent enunciated to fill in the blanks. "Girl could probably level a _mountain_ if she wanted to."

"That's… a lot of power," Virgil noted. Even when his power spiked during that sunspot cycle, he never got _that _powerful.

"Don't worry about it. Terra only goes into town when she absolutely needs to, and for the mostpart she just stays out of the way so she doesn't hurt anyone," the brunette stated with crossed arms. "I _wish _there was something more I could do for her, but she's as stubborn as a _mule_. I suppose it's why she can move the stalwart earth like a puppet on strings."

"So, what're the two of you doing in Dakota?" Virgil asked.

"We… had some problems with our team so we needed to step out for a few-" Vent went on to say before-

"Yo Vent, you read me?" a voice suddenly asked from his coat pocket.

"I have to get that," Vent said pulling out the T-Comm. "Hey Cy. What's the problem?" he asked, Virgil and Richie looking over his shoulder at the communication device in his hand.

"No real problem here. We've been holding out fine, but your tracker's out. We can't find out where you are," Cy said from the other line. "Uh… You've _got _company," he said pointing over the brunette's shoulder.

"Relax, they're superheroes too. They're cool," Vent answered. "_Anyway_, why're you calling. I _said _we'd be back in a couple of days in the message I left."

"Yes, but we are not any less worried about you," Star said making her presence known.

"And what about _Robin_? He still blowing a gasket or has he finally calmed down a bit?" the brunette asked, Virgil's eyes widening at the mentioning of Batman's sidekick before he remembered the Dark Knight _mentioning _he was leading a superhero team. Ventus and Raven must've been two of them, the prior talking to a third and fourth at the moment.

"We're… working on that," Cyborg admitted. "Anyway, we're trying to get him to cool down, but we'd at _least _like to know that you're safe. I know asking _where _you are is too much to ask since Rob would probably just hunt the two of you down if he _knew_."

"Yeah. Guy takes his work _waaay_ too seriously," Vent noted. "Anyway, Rae and I found a nice place to crash for a couple days. We'll be back soon. Until then, make sure BB doesn't mess with my stuff," he said before shutting off the line.

"Live video chatting? Dude, what kind of hardware are you _running _in that thing?" Richie asked. Most setups were huge and cumbersome, but the compound-like communication devices were the size of a girl's compound. Not that much bigger than their own Shock Boxes.

"Yeah… We _are_ kinda on a superhero team," Raven said pulling out her T-Comm.

"Hold up, you two wouldn't happen to be Teen Titans would you?" Virgil asked.

"You know about us?" Vent asked.

"I heard Batman _mention _Robin was off leading some team, and after hearing about the Teen Titans stopping the Gordanian invasion a few months back, I finally found out where he was," Virgil noted before he started rubbing his chin. "Still, it sounds like you two left without running it by Boy Wonder. Care to tell me why?"

"Boy _Blunder _found out something about my past he didn't really _agree _with," Vent said with crossed arms. "Really, you'd think a guy trained by _Batman _would be a little more level-headed instead of _hot_-headed."

"Why? What'd he get on you?" Richie asked.

"That I used to, key words _used to_, be the apprentice of a supervillain," Vent answered, Virgil and Richie recoiling, but not overreacting. "Guy's alias is Deathstroke, but he goes by Slade now. The guy's more like an Anti-Batman than _Moth_man was, and that's _saying _something."

"So you had a bad teacher a couple years back. Big whoop. That isn't anything to have a _fit _about," Richie stated.

"Tell that to _Robin_. The guy still has chunks of Vent in his teeth from the unjust _chewing out _he got," Raven noted. "To tell you the truth, the guy's kind of a hot-head."

"Huh. Figured Robin'd be more like _Batman,_" Richie noted before walking over to a burgundy ice box with the words **Drink SODA-POP!** printed on the sides. "Dispenser, Command: Root beer," the blond then ordered to the cube of metal. Raven raised an eyebrow at this, or at least it _was_ until the lid slid back and a pair of robot hands dispensed a pair of root beers via voice command.

"Dude you have _got _to give me the specs for that. It's totally _phat_!" Vent said in awe of what BB would most likely call the "magic icebox".

"You let me look at that T-Comm. so I can set up live video chatting at that scale and you've got yourself a deal," Richie said popping his beer open. "Slapped a menu on the side. Just do what I did before asking for the drink you want."

"Well alright then," Vent said tossing the T-Comm. to Richie, then began rubbing his hands together before facing the icebox. "Dispenser, Command: Grape Soda," he ordered, a pair of robotic hands dispersing two purple cans with the words **Grape Soda** on them. "Here Rae. Grape's the best flavor out of _all _the fruit-flavored soda," the brunette said passing the can to Raven, the mage nodding as she opened it with a soft _**–pop-fizzz-**_.

"Not that I don't think that's cool, but are you sure we should be letting someone mess with our T-Comm.s?" Raven asked taking a sip of her soda.

"Relax. If I can build a particle accelerator with a toaster and curling iron, I think I'm _perfectly_ capable of analyzing your tech without messing anything up," Richie said as he opened the back and began… analyzing it.

"So you use gadgets to fight huh?" Vent asked.

"Yeah. My _real _power is supersmarts, so while I can't knock a brick wall over, I can make stuff to do that _for _me," Richie stated as he analyzed the circuits, already finding out how to overcome the issue of size.

"That sounds a lot like Gizmo," Vent said, earning an odd look from the blond. "He's a short little guy who uses tech too. However what I _can't _find out is how that backpack of his overcomes the law of conservation of mass on a daily basis," he said referring to how the wings, spider legs, laser cannons, and missile-launchers all fit into that tiny metal pack when they _shouldn't_.

"Probably nano-fold technology," Richie answered, only to get strange looks from Ventus and Raven. "_What_? You did ask," he said before closing the T-Comm., then started taking some notes on pieces of scratch paper lying around the room.

"So you guys are going to be in town for a few days. Have anywhere to stay?" Virgil asked.

"Not really. Rae and I were just thinking of stopping by a motel and hanging around town for a couple days before heading back," Vent said lacing his fingers behind his head and leaning his chair back. It was at that moment that both his and Raven's stomachs started to growl, the two chuckling nervously as they sipped their sodas.

"Hungry huh?" Virgil asked, the two nodding embarrassingly. "No big. My dad's running a potluck at the community center today. Why don't the two of you stop by? I'm sure he'd be _thrilled _to meet two of the Teen Titans."

"So then he knows your secret?" Raven asked.

"Yeah. Things got _much _easier after I told him," Virgil admitted. "Kinda wish I'd told him _sooner_."

"Hindsight _is _20/20 perfect," the mage noted.

_***Cue Static Shock-themed Scene Transition***_

One bus ride later and the group found themselves at the Freeman Communicy Center. Raven noted that while it wasn't _completely _in the better part of town, it was probably set up that way so the people who really needed to use it could access it freely. All in all it was quite nice, the smell of food coming from the gym door as they were heading towards it. Opening the doors, they came into the main lobby, which at the moment was full of people at tables or standing, enjoying a nice potluck lunch from the surrounding area. Virgil looked around for a few minutes, his eyes landing on a pair of figures off towards the back.

"Hey pops!" Virgil called out, leading the group towards a pair standing off to the side, chatting with one another. The first was a tall, heavey-set black man wearing slacks, a red shirt, and a white vest over it, a set of wire rim glasses on his face, hair cut short, and a moustache on his upper lip. Standing beside him was a brown-skinned woman with dark red hair and seafoam green eyes, purple lipstick on her lips, and wearing a police uniform, but without the hat.

"Virgil, Richie, glad you could make it," the man said as the group came up. "Oh, I see you brought some friends."

"Yeah, they're from out of town, and we decided to bring them over," Virgil said.

"It's nice to meet you Mr…"

"Hawkins. Robert Hawkins," the man greeted as he took Vent's hand.

"Is this your wife?" Raven asked facing the woman standing next to him.

"Maybe someday, but no," the woman said shrugging her shoulders. "The name's Trina Jessup. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Raven returned shaking the woman's hand.

"So my son tells me you're out of town. How'd the four of you meet then?" Robert asked, hiding a knowing tone behind his words.

"Well, we actually hit it off today and got along really well," Richie said off-handedly.

"Really now?" Trina asked. "So tell me, just how far out of town _are _you from?"

"Oh… Pretty far out," Raven said nervously scratching her cheek, not wanting to reveal too much info.

"I see," Trina said nodding. "Listen, thanks for inviting me, but I have to get back to work. I'll see you tomorrow evening," she said kissing Robert's cheek.

"Alright. I'll see you then," Robert said before a low growling noise rumbled through the air, catching his attention before his eyes landed on the brunette and bluette.

"Heheh… Hungry," the brunette chuckled nervously.

"Well what're you waiting for? Dig in," Robert prompted, the brunette nodding in thanks before he got over to the table at the back of the line. "So, how long are the two of you in town for?" he said turning to Raven.

"Maybe one or two more days," she returned with a shrug of her shoulders, her stomach growling moments later. "Excuse me," she said heading to the potluck line.

"So… Friends from out of town huh?" Robert asked his son in a knowing tone, an eyebrow raised.

"How could you tell?" Virgil asked nervously.

"Let's just say I have a knack for reading people," he chuckled with crossed arms. "So where do they intend to stay then?"

"They said they were going to rent a motel room. With the meta-humans still running around after that _cure _was distributed, they could get a good price on it," the teen answered.

"Virgil, you know I can't just let a pair of wayward teens go around and do whatever they want. They don't even look old enough to have finished _high _school."

"So what do you suggest? They'll only be in town for another day, maybe two," Virgil argued, causing Robert to sigh and rub the bridge of his nose. "You let Richie stay over all the time. Why not the two of them."

"After all, they _are _a long way from home," Richie said adding his two cents.

" . . . Alright, you talked me into it," the man responded. He really did have a soft spot for troubled teens. Probably why he got the job running the community center in the first place.

* * *

><p>"No, really, this isn't necessary," Raven said as she and Vent were pushed towards the Hawkins residence.<p>

"Yeah, we can just get a decent motel room somewhere. I hear prices are down with all the meta-humans running around," Vent said as they neared the door. The thing looked like it had been replaced multiple times in the past, and given the state of things in Dakota, that was likely the case.

"Nonsense. We've had this guest room in the back that hasn't been used in _ages_," Virgil said opening the door.

"Virgil Hawkins!" a voice said from inside, a dark-skinned girl with her hair styled in twin curled pigtails, white hoop earrings, and white bead hair scrunchies yelled as she came into the room; her attire consisted of a white tank top, baggy blue jeans, and white sneakers. "_What_ did I tell you about bringing guests to the house without letting me know?"

"Why? I don't see the harm," Virgil said as Vent and Raven looked over his house, seeing the state that the living room was in.

"Whoo. Pigstye," the two said together, looking to one another before chuckling.

"_That _is why?" the girl said pointing to the living room, snacks and such scattered from the other day's football game strewn out throughout the living room.

"_Sharon, the older sister,"_ Richie said over the two's shoulder, both nodding in recognition.

"If people see our house like this, they'll think we're a bunch of _slobs_," Sharon continued.

"Don't worry about it. This is a _cakewalk _compared to back at the… apartment my friends and I share," Vent said catching himself, the girl rubbing the bridge of her nose and sighing before turning to Virgil and Richie.

"You two made the mess. You two clean it up," she said pointing at them before turning to her father. "So, who are these two?" she asked pointing at the brunette and bluette.

"They're… friends of Virgil's from out of town," Robert answered. "They'll be staying in the guest room."

"Nu-uh. Ain't gonna happen," Sharon said shaking her head at the two, Vent and Raven soon flushing bright red at the implication before the brunette stepped up.

"I'll sleep on the couch! Raven can take the guest room," he interjected.

"That's what I _thought _you were going to say," Sharon said knowingly. "Come on sweetie, let's get you settled in for the evening," she said leading Raven off to the back of the house, Vent and Robert sighing heavily once they were gone.

"Is your daughter _always _that scary?" Vent asked nervously.

"Well… She kinda gets it from me," Robert admitted.

"Really? Cause you seem like such a laid-back guy."

"Most of the time," Robert chuckled, Virgil and Richie cleaning up the last of the living room's mess. "You have to _assert _yourself from time to time, otherwise people will walk all over you."

"Assert myself…" Vent said to himself putting his hand to his chin. "Yeah, why didn't I see it before?" he asked himself as he began pacing. "The Tower's just as much my home as _his _is. Why should _I _have left when _he's _the one with the problem? If he's got a problem with me, then he can shove it up his nose because I will _not _take being talked down to that way," he said as he began pacing through the just-cleaned mess.

"_Who's he talking to?"_ Richie asked.

"_Himself. My sister does this _all _the time,"_ Virgil answered.

"So _what _if my old teacher nearly nuked us like microwave buritos?" he asked himself, the others raising their eyebrows at that as he ranted. "It doesn't make it _my _fault. I stopped being the guy's apprentice _years _ago. Raven!" he called out to the back, the girl poking her head out from around the corner. "I have seen the light! There's no point in waiting for Mr. Hair Jel to cool down. The only way I'm going to make any leeway back in Jump is to assert myself, and _not _take any _crap _from _him_!"

"I figured you'd come to that conclusion eventually," Raven stated. "So, you want to go home or what?"

"Didn't you two just get here?" Sharon asked coming back around the corner. "And _who _is Mr. _Hair _Jel?"

"A guy back home I had a disagreement with, and I will _not _let him run me out of my own home!" he said clenching his fist, fires burning in his eyes. "And like I said, I will _not _let him run me out of my own home just because he has a problem with who used to teach me."

"Why? What'd your old teacher ever do to Mr. _Hair _Jel?" Sharon asked.

"Don't ask, that's kind of personal," Raven stated. "So, we going home or what?"

"Well… I've kinda just been dragging you along with me for my own benefit, so I'll let you decide," Vent said facing Raven.

"A true gentleman," Sharon commented. "You could _learn _something from a guy like him," she said facing Virgil, the teen grumbling about nosy sisters compating him to total strangers.

"Hmmm…" Raven mused to herself. "Why don't we do something in town before heading home tomorrow?" she suggested. "Maybe go to a movie or something."

"Ooh! I know _just _the thing!" Sharon said before pulling a flyer out of her pocket. "The Dakota Multiplex is having a Twilight marathon. If we leave now, we can bring our dates together and see them."

"Twilight?" Vent and Raven said together. "Um… Thanks, but no thanks, I'm not really into Twilight," Raven said, causing Sharon to gasp loudly. "What?" she asked plainly.

"Don't think on it too much, but to my sister not knowing about Twilight is equivalent to _sacrilege_," Virgil said putting a hand on the mage's shoulder, placing the back of his other hand on his forehead and moaning dramatically.

"Is _not_. Tell her daddy," she said facing her father.

"I'm not going to get in the middle of this," he said pulling out a newspaper and reading. The perfect diversionary tactic for these sort of situations.

"Girl, you haven't _lived _until you've seen Edward sparkle like a thousand suns," Sharon swooned, a pale-skinned guy in an open jacket sparkling like a demented disco ball displaying itself before her mind's eye. Of course since Raven wanted nothing to do with Twilight, she didn't bother reading the girl's thoughts.

"I'm… pretty sure that isn't something I need to see," Raven said backing away, discretely moving to behind Vent in case she needed the emotional support, or if worse came to worse, a shield.

"Nonsense. I'll call the girls together and we can all go see the movies in an hour," Sharon said before looking to Virgil and Richie. "Put on some decent clothes you two."

"What? Why do _we _have to go?" Virgil asked.

"Because the mutiplex is running a promotional _couples _special, and Frieda and Daisy have been wanting to go to this since the hype went out," she stated, the two's eyes widening slightly before Virgil rushed upstairs, Richie high-tailing it out of the house like someone'd lit his pants on fire. "Boys, so predictable," she said before dragging Raven up the stairs as well. "Come on, I'll let you borrow one of my outfits for the marathon."

"But I have clothes of my own," she said motioning to the bag in her room, having been torn away just before she could get to her friend.

"They're all wrinkled from traveling," Sharon argued, dragging Raven around the corner despite Raven nearly clawing grooves into the wall.

"Daughters," Vent sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. Not that he _knew _about having daughters mind you, but he felt it had to be said.

"Tell me about it," Robert said flipping the page of his newspaper.

* * *

><p><em>Vent, for the love of Azar, help me, <em>Raven pleaded to Vent as she, along with Virgil, Richie, and a tall guy by the name of Adam Evans were dragged to the Dakota Multiplex behind Sharon, and two girls by the name of Frieda Goren and Daisy Watkins. While she herself was being dragged behind Sharon, Vent was being dragged along by Virgil and Richie. After all, misery enjoys company.

_There isn't anything I can do now, _Vent returned through the telepathic link that he had learned could be established between the two of them if Raven focused enough. _We'll have to make our escape when the movie starts, the lights go off, and hope the girls are too awe-struck by the disco ball with feet to notice._

_Heheh. Good one, _Raven chuckled, noticing that Vent was looking at her quite intently. _What?_

_Nothing, you just look nice, _he responded. Sharon had dressed the mage up in a violet blouse with floral patterns on it, dark blue hip-hugger jeans, and a pair of purple sandals, her attire really bringing out the color in her eyes and hair. She still wore her black headband against Sharon's wishes though, since her Anja Chakra _would _draw a bit of unwanted attention.

"You two've been awfully quiet since we got off the bus," Frieda stated.

"Yeah. Something up?" Daisy asked.

"Nope," the two of them stated simply.

"You know, the two of you make the _cutest_ couple," Frieda noted, the two blushing slightly at that.

"So, how long have the two of you been datng?" Daisy asked.

"Can't a guy and a girl be _just _friends without it being anything more?" Vent and Raven asked together, the two immediately blushing with how they were caught saying one another's sentences.

"Hmhm. That isn't what your _cheeks _are telling us," Sharon chuckled, the two trying to hide their blushes. Failing too.

_As soon as the lights go out, I'm pulling us out, _Raven thought simply.

_I agree with you completely. These Twilight fangirls are _nuts_, _he said noticing the number of guys being dragged to the multiplex by Twilight T-shirt-wearing fangirls against their will.

_I wonder what the others are doing right now, _Raven thought mainly to herself, cutting off the mental link between them.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile back at Titans Tower…<strong>

Robin tapped his finger on the console incessantly, the tracers in Vent and Raven's T-Comm.s having been off for two days since they had left the Tower. He'd tried remotely activating them, but Cy told them that there was a kill switch for a reason; so that no one would be able to hunt the Teen Titans down by their communicators if they were in hiding. There _was _a failsafe set up so that with an exact series of commands, that the tracking devices within _all_ the T-Comm.s would simultaneously fail, though that was only if a group like the Secret Society got their hands on their tech and began using it against them. Beast Boy thought that kind of thing was unnecessary, but Robin agreed that it was always good to have a contingency plan.

"It's been two days already," Robin grumbled.

"It's only been one and a _half _days," Cy corrected. "And besides, it wasn't that long ago that we talked with them. They're with friends, so we have nothing to worry about."

"Why wouldn't you let me talk to them?" Robin asked indignantly.

"Because if you made things worse, we could have the re-making of a time-paradox on our hands," Cy said crossing his arms.

"What are you getting at?"

"Remember the Justice _Lords _from a few years back? They came from a timeline where Lex Luthor became president and killed the Flash. Even though the circumstances in _our_ timeline changed, that secret organization Cadmus was still able to project the best way to re-create the Justice Lords so that they would have a valid reason to wipe them out."

"What does this have to do with us?"

"Remember how Star said we all split up because she was _gone _for twenty years?" Cy asked, Robin nodding his head. "Well what if Star disappearing through a time portal wasn't the _only _way for the team to split up."

"Are you saying I could re-create the future Star told us about?" Robin asked crossing his arms.

"It's a distinct possibility, and I've been running simulations with Dr. Slim's computers on an advanced algorithm, taking into account our team dynamics _before _the HIVE mission, and after. What if you all but chasing Vent out of the tower could act as the _catalyst _for re-creating the circumstances of the alternate future Star visited?" Cy asked. "First Vent leaves and goes back to Slade, and then one by one the team loses its reasons to stay a team; Beast Boy goes solo, I become obsolete, you go Dark Knight on us, Raven withdraws herself, and Star goes offworld or something. The circumstances would've changed, but the end result would be the same."

"So let me get this straight…" Robin said trying to wrap his head around it. "Are you telling me that even though Star came back and brought back the Clock of Infinity, that we could _still _end up being broken apart and going our separate ways?"

"It's the rekmas, I'm telling ya," Beast Boy interjected. "This is _classic _time travel paradox dynamics. A person goes back in time to stop a horrible even from happening, but instead of stopping it, the person enables it to happen in the first place. Said event _happens _in the first place because someone came to that time from the future and enabled it to happen in the first place. Therefore, even though Star came back from the alternate future where I'm bald, Cy's obsolete, Raven's in a nuthouse, and _you_ grow out your hair like a hippie," he said pointing to Robin. "That isn't any guarantee that we'll be able to change what happened, because _by _knowing what happened and us attempting to change it, we could very well be re-creating the future that Star told us about."

"But if that's the case, then how come Star didn't run into a future version of herself in that timeline?" Cy asked, trying to get used to Beast Boy talking so intelligently, as opposed to the theories he was throwing around when Robin turned to the dark side.

"Maybe the further into the future a time-traveling means affects the past, the greater the change on the immediate future is," the changeling said pacing about. "Maybe in that timeline, instead of Star having gone to the future and been gone for twenty years, the Alternate Star left on her own, and _our _Star going to that future instead was a result of the polluting of the time stream."

"So you're saying if we keep going down this path, that we'll only end up _re-creating _that alternate timeline, instead of trying to change it like we originally planned?" Robin stated, trying to wrap his mind around all this time-travel stuff. Batman _had _gone back to World War II with the other original members of the justice League in order to change what Vandal Savage had done to pollute the timeline, and what he'd left behind from the future _had _impacted the present day, so who was to say the crackpot theories about their fate being thrown around weren't true. "If that's the case, can't we just make it so they never want to leave?"

"Flawless logic," Beast Boy said sarcastically. "Fact is, this is not a perfect world where everything goes according to plan. Murphey's Law dictates that anything that can go wrong inevitably will. That means, unless we can get to the _root _of the problem and _fix _it, instead of treating the symptoms, we'll only end up buying time."

"Just like cancer," Cy said with crossed arms. "It doesn't matter how many tumors we cut out. If we don't treat the source… then we're only buying ourselves time."

"How do you think Star will take this then?" Robin asked, the alien girl having taken to watching Spanish soap operas to cope with the loss, however temporary it may or may not be, of her friends.

"If she finds out her coming back won't guarantee any real change to the timeline, or at least the team's fate as far as she's concerned, it may end up closing our window of opportunity faster than we can keep up with, and we really _may _be stuck with that bad hand we were dealt," Cy said with crossed arms, the majority of his thinking power dedicated to trying to find a more permanent solution to their looming problem.

"What if we erase our memories like in the Men in Black?" Beast Boy asked. "If we don't _know _about that future, maybe we can change it."

_And so it ends, _Cy sighed. "Even if we _did _do that, not _only _would we be losing entire _months_ of important memories, and don't even get me _started _on how unethical _and _unhealthy that would be, but we'd be back at square one. It'd be no worse, but it wouldn't be any _better _either."

"So what? Do we just let things run their course?" Beast Boy asked with a huff.

"It's better than making things any worse," Robin sighed. "But no matter _what _happens, we _can't _let Starfire know about this. If she finds out, who _knows _what kind of emotional trauma it could cause."

"Querido amigos, me temo que Ventus y Raven puede ser perdido para si_empre_!" Starfire cried dramatically as she suddenly burst into the Ops Center, her back arched over the counter and her hand went to her forehead as though through exhaustion. "Lo que si ellos nunca volvera a nosotros? Lo que si ellos nunca llegan a casa? Lo que si continuan a pasear porque no pueden encontrar aceptacion enlos brazos de sus amigos? Oh, me siento como si estoy atrapado en un perpetuo pesadilla que no tiene fin."

Oh, and she was speaking in Spanish. A _lot_.

"_Um… I think we should be more worried about what's happening to her _now_ rather than what _might_ happen,"_ Cy whispered to Robin as Star continued to babble in Spanish.

"_At least if we ever go to Mexico, we won't end up asking a person why we have a beehive in our pants,"_ Beast Boy stated with crossed arms, Cy and Rob rubbing the bridge of their noses at the ludicrousy of his previous statement. He'd been watching too many sitcoms.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile back with Ventus and Raven…<strong>

_My_ God,_ this story is incredibly bland and tasteless! _Raven thought to herself.

_I think the founder of your religion has better things to do than listen to you complain about- my _God_ this is boring! _Vent mentally returned, his thought interrupted by yet another sappy love scene, once more brought on by the disco ball vampire being a total dick to his on-and-off girlfriend; the crappy white chick with no powers.

_So, you ready to leave now? _she asked back.

_There's just enough time for us to vacate the premises and catch the new Sherlock Holmes movie, _he returned, having spotted the poster in the lobby.

_Then take my hand, and make like you're going to pick something up, _Raven stated, the brunette taking her hand as the two ducked down as though they were about to pick something up, Raven creating a small portal to facilitate their escape.

"You really think we should've left Virgil and Richie behind like that?" Vent asked as they appeared in a back alley across from the multiplex moments later. "I mean, they have to go through three and a half more _movies _of disco ball vampires and shag rug werewolves. It must be _terrifying_."

"I learned about _real _vampires from the monks at Azarath, and _true _vampires, do _not _sparkle like disco balls," Raven stated, Vent chuckling beside her a moment later. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, heheh, nothing much. Just thinking about what we'd all look like in disco attire," Vent chuckled as they got onto the sidewalk, his expression sullening a moment later. "Do you ever think I'll be able to go home again? I mean, I _have _spent three years as a nomad with super powers, but ever since I got a home and good friends, the thought of being out there on my own… it terrifies me," he said hugging himself nervously. Normally such an action would only be reserved for girls, but the word '_normal' _didn't really apply there.

"Don't worry. You saved me from _my _loneliness. The least I can do is save you from yours," Raven said putting a hand on his shoulder. She tried to ignore the jabs coming from Sloth about how that was so sappy and corny.

"Heh. Thanks Raven," Vent chuckled before a loud scream from the direction of the multiplex pierced the air. "What was that?"

"Werewolf! Evil purple werewolf!" a screaming moviegoer in a Twilight T-shirt cried out, throngs of people vacating the movie theatre like one would a bad movie.

"I'm guessing they _aren't _talking about Twilight," Raven said plainly.

"Yeah…" Vent said as he caught sight of Sharon and the others leaving. Well, sans Virgil and Richie, seeing as Adam was helping Sharon along. _You think Virgil and Richie are getting 'into character'?_

_Most likely, _Raven returned. "Girls, what's going on?" she asked as the group they were watching the movie with ran towards them.

"It's… a bang baby," Frieda panted with her hands on her knees. "It burst out of the… movie screen. We thought… it was 3D… but when it knocked that person… over our heads… we ran."

"**GRAAAAAAAH!"** a shaggy purple bipedal werewolf wearing tattered blue pants with yellow eyes roared as it burst out of the movie theatre, roaring loudly and scaring the living daylights out of pedestrians. The next moment it turned its attention on _their _group, its eyes landing on Raven before it charged, people clearing out and the others apart from Adam, Vent, and Raven freezing up.

"You four get out of here. We'll hold this thing off until help arrives," Adam said clenching his fists as his predominantly-purple attire changed to a purple and violet-accented rubber jumpsuit.

"Adam!" Sharon cried in worry. Even though the guy _was _a superhero, it didn't mean she didn't worry about him. However, before she could talk him into waiting until help arrived, the brunette her dad brought home suddenly rushed past them, gunning at the shaggy purple werewolf headfirst. "What're you doing?"

"Stay away from my friends you shag rug with _feet_!" Vent said as he rushed at the werewolf, then at the last second veered right, his hand grabbing a fistful of fur before he swung around onto its back, his right arm going around its trachea and his left arm applying leverage, the brunette pulling back and causing the werewolf to falter and its face turn a deeper shade of purple. "Suck it Twilight reject! I'll turn you into a _rug _if I have to!" he shouted as he continued to suffocating the werewolf, the meta-human continuing to flail about wildly. It was at that moment that Static and Gear flew out of the movie theatre, catching the meta-human being strangled by the brunette they'd met a few hours ago. Static raised his hand and readied a lightning blast, but his eyes narrowed as the two kept moving around.

"What're you waiting for? Knock him out!" Gear cried out.

"I can't get a clear shot in," Static said in return as he flew closer to the ground, strafing around the werewolf and brunette to try and get a clear shot in, only to be unable to do so.

"Static!" the brunette called out to him, raising his left hand which now had a brass knuckle on it. "Hit me!"

"What?-!"

"I said hit me dammit!" he said shaking his fist above the werewolf's head, the hero faltering before he let out a small bolt of electricity at the brass knuckles, the melee weapon lighting up like a Christmas tree, the brunette smiling wickedly as he tightened his grip on the thing's neck. "_Shooooooock _treatment!" he sung out as he began punching the werewolf meta-human in the left side of the face, electrical discharges sent through its skull and causing it to falter and make its hair stand on end. Even though now it wasn't being suffocated, the thing now had a _new _reason to stumble about. After a few good hits, its left eye swelling closed and bruising black with its flesh singing, the brunette back flipped off the thing's back, rolling across the ground before coming to rest at a wall just as his brass knuckle lost its charge. "Tag me! Tag me tag me tag me!" he cried as he then ran at the electric hero, holding his hand out which Static tagged, the brunette running over to the others and panting heavily with his hands on his knees.

"What was the big idea facing a meta-human on your own like that? You could've gotten yourself killed!" Sharon chastised, Adam off to the side sighing about not being able to get any action in.

"Sorry. _*pant* _Adrenaline… and testosterone," the brunette returned as he slid his brass knuckles into his pocket. He'd left one back at the house so that if anyone found him with one, they'd think it was purely ornamental, opposed to if he was carrying two then they'd think he was up to something.

_Really? That's the best excuse you can come with? _Raven said 'helping' him to his feet.

_Hey, they seem to be buying it, _Vent returned, Gear throwing a metallic sphere at the Twilight reject before metal coils sprung out of it, trapping the beast and dropping it like a sack of potatoes in the middle of the street. "Come on. Let's get out of here before something _else_ attacks us."

"Yeah, sure thing," Sharon said helping Raven 'help' Vent back to the bus stop. Meanwhile, Daisy and Frieda watched as Static and Gear disappeared around a building, noticing that Virgil and Richie were once more absent.

"It's the weirdest thing, those two are _always _absent when Static and Gear show up," Daisy said as she looked around, the two still missing.

"Yeah… You still don't think they're Static and Gear?" Frieda asked.

"Those two? No way," Daisy dismissed. "But still…" she trailed off. This wasn't the _first _time they'd considered the possibility…

* * *

><p>"What a day, huh guys?" Virgil asked as the group sat down at a decent restaurant a bus ride or so from the multiplex; Get Your Grub On.<p>

"Yeah…" Frieda and Daisy moaned saddly. "We didn't even get to the second movie," the prior sighed sighed.

"That bang baby just came out of _nowhere_," Daisy added. "How come there are meta-humans still running around? Didn't they make a cure for that?"

"The same reason there's still disease. They evolve around the recent cures, making the older ones useless," Richie stated as he munched on his fries. "That's probably why Static and Gear still have _their _powers," he added, covering their tracks. Then again that actually _was _the case, but for all intents and purposes that info was just an 'opinion' rather than 'fact'.

"No offense, but I think home's just a _little _bit safer than here," Vent said munching on some crinkle-cut fries, savoring the taste of "wholesome", greasy, artery-clogging fried food made by a restaurant not worried about calories or any of that other nutrition bullsh*t. No one lives forever, so why try when you can enjoy life while you can, dying with great-tasting food in your stomach rather than that over-healthy vegetable crap that people eat to try and live longer. Honestly, people never got cancer in the olden days because they never lived long enough for it to become an issue.

"Yes. At least _there _you can see the weirdos coming," Raven said simply as she sipped her chocolate milkshake. Happy kept going on and on about ordering the chocolate milkshake, so the mage simply did as she was asked so as to not have the voice in her head moaning all day about not getting any chocolate. _Come to think of it, how have they all been able to bypass my mental barriers so frequently? _she asked herself. _Do I need to come up with some new methods if they've found ways around the old ones?_

"Come to think of it, where _did _the two of you come from?" Sharon asked.

"Cross-country/Nearby," Raven and Vent both said at the same time, looking to one another before saying- "Nearby/Cross-country." –the two having contradicted one another once again.

"Nearby. Cross-country. Could we get a straight answer please?" Sharon asked, Daisy and Frieda wanting to know too, while Virgil and Richie already knew. Right before they got in, Adam received a call from the record company about needing to supervise some new music, so at the moment he wasn't present to wonder, even though he wanted to know just _why _the brunette had talked so openly to Static.

"It's…" "Very far away," Raven answered after Vent started the answer up.

"Really? _How _far away?" she asked, wondering just how far the two teens had been traveling with one another. Needing a diversion, Vent pointed out the window and shouted- "Is that Robert Pattinson walking down the street?"

"Where?" the three girls cried out, Raven wrapping her arms around Vent and letting themselves fall back into a portal before anyone _–apart from Virgil and Richie who witnessed the entire act- _saw. "Hey, that was mean," Frieda groaned as she turned back to the other side of the table, only to see that Vent and Raven were no longer there. She and Daisy turned to Virgil and Richie, but the two of them shrugged their shoulders, trying to wash their hands of that entire affair.

* * *

><p>At the same time back at the Hawkins residence, a black portal opened up in the middle of the living room, Vent and Raven stumbling out onto the carpet, the brunette holding a plate and glass warily in his hands.<p>

"Phew. I saved the fries and milkshake," Vent sighed as he got up, aforementioned food held in his hands.

"That and we got away before we could divulge too much information we didn't want to," Raven stated as she sat up and dusted herself off, taking the milkshake back as Vent held it out for her, the mage taking a sip before she said- "Still, maybe that was a bit harsh. What do you think?"

"If we'd stayed any longer, we may've ended up compromising our identities," the brunette said plainly. "After all, neither one of us wears masks, and it would only take _one person_ looking at us and a picture of the Teen Titans Ventus and Raven at the same time to draw a conclusion."

"If that logic were true, then wouldn't Superman's identity have been found out _years _ago?" Raven asked.

"I think that's why he wears the glasses," Vent returned. "Though I'm sure Batman at least changes his _voice _a bit or something in addition to the mask."

"Maybe. You still think he's Bruce Wayne?" Raven asked as she sat down on the couch, Vent plopping himself down on the sofa beside her.

"Well he _is _the only man with enough of a reason _to _be Batman, has traveled abroad enough to accumulate the skills necessary to _be _a crime fighter, has the funds to _pay _for all that very expensive tech, _and _has the kind of job where he can sleep all day, stay up all night, and be gone for long periods of time without anyone thinking anything of it because he's a _billionare_," Vent summarized neatly and tactfully.

" . . . It's time like this that I can truly believe Slade used to teach you," Raven said. Based on how aloof he was acting before, she would've almost _never _come to that conclusion. "By the way, we overheard you mention something about Slade having a _daughter_. Is that true?" she asked, though in response to that question Vent froze up before shuddering. "Is something wrong?"

"That girl is pure, unadulterated, _eeeevil_," the brunette shuddered, hands shaking as he let his fries fall back to the plate. "Trust me when I say I hope to _never _meet her ever again in this lifetime."

"Why? What was she like?"

"_It must be Hell inside his head."_

_Sloth! Shut up!_ Raven shrieked at her orange-clad emoticlone in her head. Honestly, how could anyone have that much _rude _in them at one time?

"_Everyone is rude on the inside. Most are just not willing to admit it,"_ the yellow-clad emoticlone chipped in.

_I'm starting to think it's Hell inside _my _head_, Raven thought to herself as she sipped her milkshake. At least she could find solace in chocolate, as odd as that sounded.

"Back from the movies already, you two?" a familiar voice asked, Robert Hawkins walking in on the two with a bowl of popcorn in his hands, sitting himself down on the couch and taking a VHS tape in his hand from the side.

"More or less," Raven admitted.

"What movie you going to watch?" Vent asked curiously.

"A real _classic_," he said holding the tape case up. It was colored black, and in the middle was a picture of a tanned teen with short-cut black hair in a black leather biker's jacket carrying an aged shotgun, a field of golden wheat behind him. Above in red lettering were the words **MEL GIBSON**, and beneath that in yellow were the words **MAD MAX**. Beneath the picture were the words **THE FILM THAT STARTED IT ALL**.

"Isn't that the movie that made him an international superstar?" Vent asked recognizing the tape from a couple years back. Probably from the Kent house when he was there.

"Yeah. They don't make movies like _this _anymore, what with vampires that sparkle like disco balls and what not," Robert said putting the movie in.

"I thought the exact same _thing_," Vent stated. "Mind if I watch with you?"

"I'd be insulted if you didn't," Robert chuckled. "What about you, Raven? What to watch it with us? There's plenty of popcorn to go around."

"Sure," Raven said plainly as she decided to just kick back and enjoy her sabbatical for a change, or at least relax a bit during the whole affair. "It's certainly more preferable to what we were almost _forced _to watch."

"Amen to that, soul sister," Vent said holding out his fist, Brave's persona overshadowing Raven's for a moment causing the mage to fist bump the brunette as the opening scene of the movie started.

* * *

><p>The movie Mad Max had certainly <em>earned <em>its classic status, if the opening scenes and those following were any indication. The movie took place in a dystopian future Autralia, where law and order had begun to break down due to technology advancing beyond the people's ability to spiritually prepare themselves for it. There were motorcycle gangs, pursuit teams, a bit of _dark _material, fires, and plenty of graphic violence. Raven had no idea why she was suddenly able to express her feelings in short bursts without anything blowing up, melting, or blowing up _then _melting, but she finally decided to stop questioning the _why _and just enjoy it for a change. And who knows. If things keep on going well, maybe she could find a way to separate her power's trigger from her emotions and have a bit more _normalcy _in her life.

It was right as one of the "dirty" cops lit a person's gas tank on fire because they escaped a charge of rape Scott-free that Sharon burst through the front door.

"Vent! Raven! I've been looking all _over _for you two!"

"Hey Shar. Just watching a movie with your dad. Wanna join us?" Vent asked from his seat on the sofa.

"Only _Adam _can call me that," the girl interrupted.

"Alright, so I won't call you that. Sorr_-ee_," the brunette apologized.

"Why'd you leave anyway?" Virgil asked coming in. _"Not that I really _blame _you,"_ he muttered under his breath so his sister wouldn't hear.

"We just…" "Wanted to thank Robert for letting us stay for the night," Raven finished for the brunette.

"Couldn't you have waited until we were done at Get Your Grub On?" Sharon asked.

"Didn't feel like it to tell you the truth. I'm not really as _into _Twilight as you are," Vent said bluntly, figuring to get through the girl's head that he had to be concise and to the point.

"I don't really care for Stephenie Meyer's work either," Raven said backing him up. Honestly, for the first half of the trip all the girls talked about was how great the woman's works were. It made her want to gag since there were so many better literary works out there that were being so grossly overlooked because of hyped-up crap like that. Really, what was it about disco ball vampires that appealed to women all across the country?

"Wha- But-"

"Sorry sis, but I'm not about to let you corrupt yet _another _girl to your vampire-worshiping cult," Virgil cut in as he plopped himself down on the couch.

"It is _not _a cult! It's a world-wide fanclub for a legitimately-enjoyable series!" the girl argued.

"The world is _definitely _going straight to-"

"Sorry, but I won't let those kind of words be used in _my _house," Robert interrupted.

"Mexico," the girl finished as opposed to the H-word. Thinking back on it, language was never really an issue back at the Tower, seeing as how they were heroes, so they didn't throw around those kind of words on a regular enough basis for it to be an issue. Well except for the time Starfire asked Vent what "the words of swearing" were, but that was out of reference more than actual use.

"Hey pops, is this the one where the ex-cop makes the guy have to saw his foot off?" Virgil asked vaulting onto the couch.

"Dude! Spoiler much!" Vent griped as the movie continued.

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later after the Hawkins family plus company finished watching Mad Max, the five of them sat down for a meatloaf dinner courtesy of Sharon. Of course, while that may've sounded nice on paper, the main problem was that it was <em>drastically <em>under-cooked. Thankfully however, Virgil nuked everyone's servings behind Sharon's back when she answered a call, the group quickly eating their servings before Sharon spotted anything out of the ordinary. Apparently while Mr. Hawkins knew Virgil's secret identity, Sharon didn't because if they had told her about him being a meta-human, she would've had a conniption because a pair of them sent her ca off an overpass and into the side of an office building right before.

After dinner, the family split apart to do their own thing, Virgil watching TV, Sharon chatting on the phone with friends, and Robert running through some paperwork for the community center. Vent disappeared shortly after, Raven combing the house a few times before remembering what kind of person Vent was. With that in mind, she headed for the roof, and lo and behold, said brunette was sitting on the middle of the roof, looking up into the night sky. Looking up, it was more difficult to see the stars here than from the roof of Titans Tower, which was likely because the Tower was a mile or so away from the light pollution of the city.

"Figured you'd be here," Raven said walking up to him. "You come up here to think, I'm guessing?"

"Something like that. How was Sharon's meatloaf, in your opinion?" the brunette asked as he looked up at the sky.

"At first it looked like one of Star's dishes," the bluenette admitted. "But after Virgil nuked it, it actually tasted pretty good."

"I agree. Think it added a bit of flavor. I guess it'd be called… _shocky _or _electric_-y if it had a name," the brunette thought.

"I see…" Raven trailed off. "Ve- Vincent, there is something I wish to confess to you. Something I've wanted to say for a while."

_Oh my God! This is it! _Love squealed to herself.

"What is it, Rachael?" Vent asked.

"When we first met… I dismissed you as an idiot," Raven admitted, causing her purple-clad emoticlone to face fault. "B-But since then I've come to see you in a new light," she said catching the hurt look in his eyes. "Sure you acted a bit odd at first, but you're a good person at heart, and since your secret came out…" she trailed off. "I've gotten a glimpse of the kind of person you really are."

"What kind of person would that be?" the brunette asked.

"Well…" the mage said being caught off guard by the question. "You're odd, yet relatable, strong… but caring, and while your beginning wasn't happy, you find the courage to _smile _as much as you do. Something I wish I myself had," she said brushing some of her hair behind her ear, blushing a bit when she caught the brunette's face widening at the action as he turned his gaze back to the sky. "Vincent… Mind if I ask _you _a question?"

"Go ahead. Shoot."

"What kind of person do you see _me _as?" the mage asked, putting the brunette on the spot in return.

"Well…" he trailed off as he looked toward her. "You're a little distant, but you're forming lifelong bonds that I'm sure you'll hold onto forever," he said not noticing the girl flinch. "You're a bit dark… but there's a lot of light in you."

"Light?" Raven asked in surprise. "But I'm closer to a _dark _mage."

"Using dark magics doesn't _make _you dark. It's what you _do _with that magic that defines who you are," the brunette said facing her. "Even with the impending apocalypse when you turn eighteen, you still get out of bed every morning and do a lot of good with your powers. "

"Wow… Thank you Vincent, that means a lot to me," Raven said bringing her hands to her heart, her ashen skin turning a light shade of pink. Of course being paid so many heartfelt compliments with no ulterior motive whatsoever would do that to a girl.

"I mean every word," Vent returned. "On a separate note… There's something I have to confess to you as well," Vent said out of nowhere. While Raven herself didn't know what it was he was about to confess to, the voices inside her head _did_. "Back before I went off to the HIVE Academy I-" was all he said before the mage's body convulsed. Before the brunette could say anymore, Raven suddenly pushed the brunette to the ground, her mouth about to mash onto the brunette's, the teen turning his head to the side at the last moment so he only got a bit of "cheek action" instead. "Raven! What's gotten into you?"

"It isn't me! I mean it _is _me, but it isn't _me _me," she explained.

"Raven, let me in, I need to have a chat with a couple of your emoticlones," the brunette said craning his head up to touch the girl's forehead, the connection forming, a moment later as he felt as though his mind were being drawn through a drinking straw.

* * *

><p>"Alright! What's the big idea?" Vent demanded as his feet touched down on the inside of Raven's mental landscape, looking around to see he was in a large library, the void of space visible through the windows. However, that was the least that was on his mind as he began to walk forward, a yellow-clad figure with her back turned to him reading at a desk on the far side of the room by lamplight. "Knowledge," he said simply, the emoticlone looking up and adjusting her glasses as he approached.<p>

"Vincent, hello," Knowledge said closing the book she was reading. "Mind I ask why you are here?"

"Raven just tried to kiss me out of nowhere, and I have a feeling one of her emoticlones had something to do with it. Mind pointing me in the right direction?" the brunette asked.

" . . . Down the hall. You can't miss it," the yellow-clad mage said pointing to an arched wooden double door off to the side between a pair of bookshelves, the brunette giving his thanks before he walked through, finding himself on a winding pathway made of stone like before. Turning around, he saw that the door to what was probably Knowledge's domain was simply standing apart from everything else, nothing behind or around it to indicate what was inside apart from the Victorian-style woodwork. However, deciding to admire the inside of Raven's mind later _–should she ever let me-_, I made my way down the metaphorical hallway towards a rectangular door that was more normal in size; It was colored purple with a golden doorknob, and had thornless roses and vines waving about it. At the top was a heart-shaped brass-lined peephole, though the clarity wasn't too good on the side opposing the viewing one. Figuring this was a romantically-affiliated emoticlone's domain door, the brunette turned the ornate knob and opened the door, instantly coming upon a circular room a little larger than Raven's own colored in varying shades of purple. Looking to a window, he saw a world of pink and strawberries on the other side.

"This must be adjacent to Happy's world," Vent noted to himself as he looked around the room. The carpet was kinda like a shag rug colored a mix between purple and pink, the strands remaining standing as he lifted his feet from the ground. The walls were lined with pinstripe and heart-pattern wallpaper, the ceiling smooth with inlaid lights with off-pink bulbs bathing the room in a similar off-pink glow. There were a few heart-shaped pieces of furniture around, but the one that caught his eye the most was the heart-shaped bed against the far wall, a thin curtain hanging down from the ceiling, the railing heart-shaped as well, the opening parted slightly at the heart's point. "Hello? Is anyone in here?" the brunette asked looking around. _Thinking back on it, Raven's cloak _was _purple when she kissed me after that prom thing, so at least I know where _that _came from, _he said blushing a bit at the memory. _So soft… _he trailed off before he clapped his hands on his face. "Focus man. You need to find out what's going on with Raven before something like this happens in the presence of _witnesses_."

"Vincent! Glad you could drop by," a familiar voice with a sultry edge purred behind him, the brunette turning around to see an exact copy of Raven, only wearing a purple cloak, sauntering behind him, her hips swaying with each step as she came towards him from… Well it was her mind so the conventional laws of physics didn't really apply here. "So what's the purpose of your visit? Business or pleasure?"

_I'm starting to wonder if she's lust instead of love, _the brunette thought before saying- "I know I may've put the idea out there that partially merging with Raven would let her express emotions without blowing anything up, but this is taking it a little too far, don't you think?"

"Hmmm… And what would _that _be?" the purple-clad emoticlone asked as she leaned on the brunette's shoulder.

"You know _damn _well what I mean," Vent said narrowing his eyes, causing the purple-clad mage to flinch. "I'm sorry. Normally I'm more composed," he said bringing his fingers to his forehead. "Regardless, having Raven act so spontaneously isn't being very fair to her. Did you even run it by her that you wanted to kiss me?"

_I guess he doesn't yet know that the feelings are already there, and that I'm just capitalizing on them, _the emoticlone thought to herself. "I was watching your exchange, and when I saw you were about to tell Raven the reason for her sudden changes, I had to keep you quiet the only way I knew how."

"Aside from clapping a hand over my mouth you mean," the brunette said with crossed arms.

"Like Knowledge warned you, if Raven found out we were influencing her, she may try repressing us further, and end up making herself more miserable in the process," the emoticlone stated with crossed arms under her chest. Whether or not it was to make her chest more pronounced was up to debate.

"That's what I was trying to prevent," Vent argued. "You know, get her to loosen up a little and put a bit of faith in her emoticlones."

"Oh… I see…" Love responded. "Well then, why don't you go and explain that then," she asked pushing Vent towards a black and red portal that wasn't there before, the brunette sailing through it and feeling as though he were being pushed through a drinking straw before-

* * *

><p>-he found himself back in his own body, Raven now straddling him, their foreheads then-separating leaving the brunette to lie on the ground in what most would consider a rather compromising position.<p>

"Vent… What did you just do?" she asked finding herself back in control of her body.

"Like I said as we were about to be interrupted…" Vent trailed off as he began to explain what was going on, the mage having the credence to get off him lest they be caught in that position and conclusions be drawn.

* * *

><p>"So <em>that's <em>why my powers haven't been spasming out all those times they normally would've," Raven said after Vent had explained what happened.

"Yeah… You're not upset with me are you?" he asked nervously.

"Vent…" the girl said taking his hands. "What you've done… That's the kindest thing anyone's ever done for me," she said as she looked him lovingly in the eyes, her purple orbs sparkling in the moonlight. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Vent said with a soft smile, the girl giving him a soft kiss on the cheek before she headed back into the house.

"I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight," the mage said with a smile and a wave of her hand.

"Goodnight," Vent returned as the mage closed the roof door behind her, the brunette looking up into the sky moments later. "I think it's about time we went home. I have to fight for my home just as much as any other person does," he said as his hand went to the spot that Ravne kissed, his cheeks heating up a bit.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own Static Shock. I do not own the Greyhound bus system. I do not own Naruto. I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog. I do not own Twilight. I do not own Mad Max.**

**Author's Notes:  
>I've been working on adding elements of the current (or at least <strong>_**recent**_**) animated DC Universe into this story. I've made mentions of the Justice League, but now I've been able to add Static Shock to the mix as well. In Static Shock, the Teen Titans **_**are **_**mentioned at one point by Batman, and Robin's nowhere to be found by that point, so that just validates that the Teen Titans, Static Shock, and the Justice League series are all concurrent with one another.**

**As for the scar across Vent's back, that'll be explained later on in the story. For the time being, that'll remain a mystery as to how he got it. Feel free to draw your own conclusions, but for the time being my lips are sealed. On note of Vent slapping away the superimposed image of himself in the mirror's reflection, I made reference to one of the episodes of Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger when one of the red rangers did the same thing, sorta breaking the 4****th**** wall since he actually **_**saw **_**it.**

**On note of Static leaving out his bus pass for Vent to find, it's happened before (first Static Shock/Batman crossover). Gear's made a **_**lot **_**of stuff over the course of the series, so him making a memory erasure device like the one in MIB isn't that hard to believe (that and there's stuff like that in DC already… somewhere). That's one of the reasons why they were so friendly with their secret identities. That and the fact that they've already shared their identities with She-Bang, Robert Hawkins, and Anansi.**

**For Sharon's response for Raven not caring for Twilight, that's essentially how my own sister acted in that regard. Slightly over-played, but I have seen my sister go "Fangirl Mode" so many times it hurts just to think about it. Even more to write. Also, for the "cast" of Static Shock, I tried portraying their personas as best I could, so feel free to let me know if I did it correctly or not.**

**Translation (for what Starfire was saying earlier, in Spanish/Espanol):  
><strong>"Dearest friends, I fear that Ventus and Raven may be lost to us forever! What if they never return to us? What if they never come home? What if they continue to wander because they cannot find acceptance in the arms of their own friends? Oh, I feel as though I am trapped in a perpetual nightmare that knows no end."


	24. Soul Sabbatical PT III

"So you guys're really heading back then?" Virgil asked Vent and Raven as they stood in front of their bus, bags over their shoulders as they got ready to leave the next morning. Suffice it to say after last night's dinner, Vent and Raven chose to get a quick breakfast on the go before heading out of town.

"Yeah. It's been fun, but we really _do _have to head back home," Vent said in return.

"Thank you for having us," Raven said bowing slightly.

"It was no trouble at all. Taking care of troubled teen is practically my _job_," Robert said in return.

"And you're the best at what you do," Vent chuckled, adjusting his bag over his shoulder, Richie walking up to him.

"Here's that _CD _you asked me to _burn_," Richie said passing the brunette a disk in a black and white case.

"Ah, right, I _did _ask you for these," the brunette said looking it over. "Thanks man. I'll put it to good use."

"Hope so," the blond stated. _"Show me some more high-end tech and I'll show you some of mine."_

"I'll keep that in mind," Vent said shaking the blond's hand. He'd gotten email addresses from Virgil and Richie that morning, so at the least they were networking. "Later y'all," he said waving the others off as he and Raven ran towards the bus, the engine starting up signaling it was about to depart.

"Don't be strangers now, you hear?" Sharon called out, the two nodding in return from the window seat on the back right seat they'd gotten, the Greyhound's hydraulics hissing and the engine roaring as the public transportation vehicle rolled out of the station.

* * *

><p>Like when they left Smallvile, Vent and Raven took the bus eastward, heading back home before they made the final <em>jump <em>back home. Apparently, Raven had formed the equivalent of a _waypoint_ in her room where the greatest saturation of her magic residue lay, acting as a guiding point for her next "soul jump", so that way she'd be able to make the trip all the way there without stopping in the middle of the united states.

A few hours later as they rode, Vent once more taking the window seat because the skyline made him the most comfortable, Raven noticed that while they hadn't talked that much, the brunette was still being awfully silent throughout the whole trip. Asking if anything was wrong, he told her that being back in Nevada again, especially with the desert landscape passing by, that he couldn't help but think of Terra; wonder if she was okay or not. The previous night Raven had reinforced the walls separating her inner emotions from her surface thoughts, but she figured if she _hadn't_, Envy would've been screeching about him thinking about the "troublesome blond" while she/Raven was sitting next to him. The mage asked what exactly happened between them _–apart from the two of them sleeping in the same bed anyways-_, the brunette looking off at the sandstone cliffs in the distance before responding-

"I'm don't think I should talk about Terra's past behind her back. Like with me, her past is personal."

With that in mind and how Terra reacted when it came out about her having little to no control of her powers, it would make sense that something traumatic happened to the geokinetic sometime in the past involving her powers, and that Vent was right in the middle of it. She couldn't place her finger on it, but the mage just felt that she should think of the brunette as _Vent, _rather than his birth-given name, _Vincent_; most likely because that was the person she came to know before he gave her his real name. Either that or she didn't want to continually associate him with the video character whose surname was Valentine, hence why said aerokinetic was _adamant _about Beast Boy not finding out, lest he have to go through the same crap he did as a kid seven years later.

A few hours after they left the desert part of Nevada, Raven noticing that the brunette was looking almost reverently at a ruined train bridge in the distance, they disembarked and headed a distance away from the bus stop before Raven locked onto the magical signature that her abode back in the Tower emanated, using it as a guiding point for the return trip.

However that wasn't _all _she was thinking, neither was it all the _brunette _was thinking either.

* * *

><p>Overhead, a black streak soared through the heavens, headed eastward so fast it was gone like a thought; there one moment, gone the next. An undefined amount of time later, the brunette's line of sight obstructed by a cold, yet somehow comforting darkness, he finally felt his feet touch the ground, his eyes adjusting to what he <em>thought <em>would be afternoon light, only to blink a few times when it felt more like evening. Looking around where they landed, the brunette was filled with an odd sense of… familiarity.

"Raven… Where did we land?" Vent asked looking to his feet, the ground littered with trash at the bases of the brick walls, dark clouds hanging over the skyline.

"I know I headed towards home," the mage answered, looking around to ensure no one had seen them touch down. No need to draw unnecessary attention. "However… I may have been thinking about… somewhere else as I was doing so," she admitted.

"Yeah… I'm probably a little guilty of that myself," Vent said as his eyes darted to every dark corner, past experiences telling him that just because he couldn't see anyone there, didn't mean they weren't there at all. "God, it's been _years _since I was last here," he said looking around, deducting that they had landed in one of the better parts of town based on the surrounding buildings. Of course that didn't mean there still weren't any problems running around.

"Let me guess. Talking about your past for the first time in so long… brought up some old memories," Raven said as the two of them carefully headed for the sidewalk as to not draw attention to themselves, taking a note of their attire which were the last of the outfits they had brought with them.

"Yeah…" Vent returned. "Let's get the hell out of here before anything-"

"Let go of me!" a feminine voice cried.

"-stops us," he said before the two of them ran out of the alley, their eyes going down both ends of the sidewalk before they saw a crowd gathered at the next alleyway down their right. "Pheh. The people are all the same. Preaching about how much they want to help people, but when it comes down to it, they stand by and do nothing while their fellows are being harassed or worse," he growled as he strode towards the next alleyway. "Raven, we'll head back to Jump in a minute. I have to take care of something."

_Because you hate to see a girl in pain, _Raven noted, hearing about how the brunette broke a guy's leg backwards when they were just starting out as Titans. _Well, at least chivalry isn't dead, _she thought with a soft smile before following.

"Move over," the brunette said forcing his way through the gathered crowd, disgust evident on his face as he waded through the pool of _spectators _before he came to the mouth of an alleyway, a stereotypical mugger trying to wrench an oddly-familiar black and yellow sling bag from an _also _oddly-familiar blond-haired girl's arms. _Really, no one's even called the police? That's fucking _bull_shit, _the brunette thought to himself as he made his way down the alley, limbering up before he made his presence known. "Hey dreg! Why don't you cut the crap before you get hurt."

"Up yours," the mugger said with a Brooklyn accent as he released the girl's bag, suddenly pulling out a switchblade before rushing at the brunette. The blond that had once been occupied shrieked, but the brunette intercepted the man's forearm with his own, pulling the man's arm behind his back and upwards with a _**-crack-**_, a karate chop nailing the man in the throat seconds later, sending him stumbling to the ground and clutching his throat as he tried to breath.

"Amateur," the brunette noted before turning around. "Hey are you alri- Terra?" Vent asked as he recognized the blond against the wall.

"V-Ven?" Terra said brushing her hair out of her eyes. Both the style and her attire were the same as when they last met. "What're _you _doing here?" she asked before seeing Raven over the brunette's shoulder, leveling a glare at the bluette before her eyes landed back on her best friend. "You cut your hair?"

"Uh, yeah. Kinda went undercover, had to change my identity," the brunette explained before his hands went to the girl's shoulders. "Enough about me. Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine. I just didn't expect to find you _here _of all places," the blond returned, a small smile on her face. For the blush, probably because she was saved by her "white knight".

"So… Terra… Mind if I ask what you're doing here?" Raven asked coming into the conversation.

"I was in the middle of heading to… my next stop, when this guy attacked me," Terra answered motioning to the guy face down in a puddle, seeming to chose her words as she adjusted the brunette's shoulder bag.

"Next stop, huh?" Raven asked punctuating each word.

"Yes, it is," the blond returned. "Anyway, what're you guys doing here?"

"We were just heading home from a break when we came through here," Vent said looking around, the people at the alley still shell shocked at what he just did. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said grabbing the girl's wrists before heading down the other end of the alleyway, heading around the corner before the three lost themselves to the crowd.

* * *

><p>"Terra, do you have any idea how <em>worried <em>I've been about you?" Vent asked the blond a few minutes later as the three sat on a park bench, evading notice after several minutes of criss-crossing across the city. "You _told_ me that you could take care of yourself before, but seeing you back then, I can't in clear conscience let you run around without a real home," he said as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back at her. "Terra, I think you should come with us back to the Tower. We can work through your control later, but right now I think what you need the most is a place to call home."

"Vent… I… I don't know what to say," the blond blushed. "But… I can't right now. There's… something I have to finish doing out here."

"What might _that_ be?" Raven asked.

"Just one last adventure before I settle down," the blond returned with a narrowed eye. "Vent, I promise, I'll stop by the Tower and settle down, but what I'm doing right now… It's kind of important."

" . . . Alright," Vent said after a moment's silence. "Just one last adventure. But if I don't see you within the month, I'll turn over every last stone until I find you and _drag _you back myself, kicking and screaming."

_That's kinda kinky, _Terra thought with a slight blush, but after noticing Raven looking at her strangely, quashed it down before looking the brunette in the eye. "I promise, I will as soon as I can."

"Alright…" Vent sighed, his eyes going off to the side before he sighed deeply.

"Is something wrong?" Raven asked.

"It's… my parents," the brunette sighed as he let his face fall into his hands. "I… All this time running, I never stopped to see if they're alright."

"This is your hometown?" the blond asked.

"Yeah… And I think I know where to start looking," Vent said as his eyes were cast toward the north, a prominent building standing out against the far side of the park.

"The city records building?" Terra asked.

"All my life since then, I've wondered at the back of my mind what happened to them, no matter how many times I pushed it to the back of my mind," Vent said as he got to his feet, heading towards the high-roofed building off in the distance. "Maybe us landing here was more than accident, or coincidence. Maybe it was this city's way of pulling me back. You never _do _truly leave Gotham after all."

"Is he talking to us or himself?" Terra asked.

"Raven, Terra, please stay nearby. This may take a little time, but this is something I _have _to do, otherwise I'll keep wondering just _what _happened to them," he said not looking over his shoulder, his shoulders straight and serious as he strode towards the den of bureaucracy.

"Does _that _answer your question?" Raven quipped sarcastically as they followed the brunette through the park.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me, but could you point me to the records room please?" the man at the front desk heard a voice ask him a few minutes into his shift. Looking up, he saw a tanned teen with messy brown hair, tanned skin, and crimson eyes standing across from him. From what the man could tell, the brunette was wearing a white V-neck T-shirt, and over that a dark green hoodie with some black and light green splotches across it resembling jungle camouflage. As for what he was wearing from the waist down, he had no idea, nor was it really his business to care.<p>

"May I ask _why_, Mr…"

" . . . Kieth," the teen returned.

_Kieth. The ugliest name in the English language, _the man thought to himself.

"I just came into town and I'm hoping to find someone," the brunette returned.

" . . . Be my guest. Most use a phonebook or the internet, but, whatever. You're looking for the public records, third room on the right," the man returned plainly.

"Thank you," the brunette returned with a slight nod, walking in the intended direction a moment later, the man at the front desk ignoring the brunette and simply getting back to his magazine.

_Weird kid. A little too _polite _to have a name like Kieth, _the man thought to himself as he flipped the page, brunette disappearing behind the oak doors a minute or so later.

"Here they are…" Vent said looking around. "The records of everyone that's ever been born in Gotham since the turn of the last century," he said looking around at the high file cabinets, rolling ladders on railings set about since the file cabinets on the far walls went up to the ceilings. "Of course… I should be glad they went _digital _also," the brunette said going to an outdated desktop computer, covered in dust from who knows how many years of unused. _"Now, let's see here… Eleanor… Valentine,"_ the brunette said after starting up the computer and navigating through some of the outdated software before he found the current information. To say it discouraged him was an understatement.

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . I see," Vent said after several minutes of silence, lacing his fingers together before taking a deep breath, the shallow sound heard throughout the room, though no one was in sight to hear it. "Very well then… Onto the next name," the brunette said as he began typing more keys, the _**-clack-**_ing sound resounding across the room before a red and white banner appeared on the screen. "Access denied? Well… We can't have _that _now can we?" he asked as he began typing keys madly, the sound similar to that of hail against a tin roof ringing out for several minutes until the red and white banner flickered, then rezzed out before turning green and white, saying **ACCESS GRANTED**. "There, now was _that _so hard outdated desktop computer," he spoke to the inanimate object as he began leafing through more files on the new database he'd accessed. It would be a few minutes until the breach in security was noticed, but hopefully he'd be out of the building before anyone came in and caught him doing something that was probably illegal. As for if anyone caught him, well, you didn't train with a man like Deathstroke the Terminator for around a time of three years without learning a few… tricks of the trade.

After about ten minutes of leafing through the files, Vent finally came upon the information he required for his rest of mind. While the first batch wouldn't exactly help him sleep at night… the second batch didn't exactly help either. True in his later years he'd considered the possibility of _that _happening to them, but he never thought it'd actually happen. After interlacing his fingers together for a few minutes, he gave off a deep sigh before getting up from his seat and shutting the computer down, yanking out the Ethernet cables to prevent back-tracking if it hadn't been done-so already. Of course the hacking sequence was one that was not missed by a pair of eyes in the back of the room, a grin pulling on their face before the figure pulled out a phone.

"Boss. I think I found _just _what we need," the man said through his smug grin.

* * *

><p>"So… You and Ven are on vacation huh?" Terra asked outside with crossed arms, a few minutes after Vent had entered the city records building.<p>

"Something like that," Raven returned, taking the time to look around them before simply staring back at the front doors. _There hasn't been a single fissure or tremor since we got here. Did Terra improve her control while we were out? Hm, I suppose it's possible, I mean, _I _can feel emotions without anything bursting into flames or melting, so I guess anything's possible, _she mused.

"You better not've _corrupted _him or anything," Terra then said a moment later. "He's a sweet and innocent guy, and I won't stand for it if you're taking _advantage _of him."

Before the girl could speak up, a newspaper suddenly fluttered through the air and slapped her in the face. Ripping it away, she was about to crumple it up and toss it into the nearby trashcan before the headline caught her eye. The mage brought it up to her face, something not missed by the geokinetic who looked over his shoulder.

"Two-Face Gang still at large after string of heists," Raven read aloud. "What do they mean by Two-Face _Gang_?"

"Every once in a while, gangs modeling themselves after Gotham villains pop up here from time to time," Terra answered. "Most of the time it's to intimidate the people, or as a gimick, but I hear some of the villains are spearpointing these gangs and using them like _soldiers _to coordinate what they're doing."

"You're saying there are a bunch of guys like _Two-Face _running around?" Raven asked. Robin at one point had briefed the team on the villains of Gotham since the place was a few hour's trip away from Jump, mainly as a precaution in case any of them tried to move to greener pastures.

"Not necessarily," the blond returned. "It's probably just to scare people, or let them know what's coming, like a gang mark or something. It's kind of like with Batman. The bad guys see his sigil, and they'll run for it if they don't want to get beaten down."

"I see the mentality there," Raven sighed. "Hey wait a minute, what was that you were saying about me corrupting-" the bluette asked before the doors to the town hall opened, brunette stepping down and heading towards them.

"Ven, did you find what you were looking for?" Terra asked getting up.

"I did… I need to make a little trip," the brunette said walking by, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped. The two girls looked to one another, but they quickly fell into step behind him, wondering just what he'd found. While Raven _knew _it was about the brunette's parents, Terra at the most could only _figure _so.

* * *

><p>The next half-hour to-an-hour was excruciating for the two girls, but mostly because the brunette kept upping the tension. He was quiet and stoic, far from the flighty teen both of them knew, his eyes focused forward, his face impassive, the people seeming to part around him as he strode forward. A few minutes after leaving the park, the brunette dropped by a flower shop, procuring seven white roses for a reason that the two girls had yet to understand. After that he began cutting through town, taking back alleys and hidden routes which to the brunette seemed familiar; given his past, Raven figured the brunette had taken this route before.<p>

For a half hour or so the brunette walked, the two following the brunette, the air around him saturated with a certain air about him that said "I'm on a mission." They kept close to him so they wouldn't get lost, a yard away at the least since Gotham was a big place, and it was easy to get lost. When they made their way through one of the bad parts of town, a mugger was about to attack the brunette, but when his crimson eyes suddenly snapped onto the man, cold and unfeeling but narrowed, the man grew pale before dropping his knife, running off through the darkness. Given who taught him, it was easy to see how the brunette could scare someone off just by _glaring _at them. The man himself had that effect on the Titans in the rare instances they met face to face, so it was believable that it was the stare that did it.

Finally after the tension was built so high that you could cut through it with a knife, the group of three finally arrived at their destination. The engraving on the arched gateway caused the two's stomachs to sink significantly.

**Gotham City Cemetary**

The place was quiet as a grave, no pun intended, the sound of _**-crunch-**_ing grass echoing through the air after the brunette broke from the beaten path. The tombstone they passed were as varying in shape, size, style, and aesthetic as the people who were buried underneath, ranging from the simple, to ornate, to simply ornate. It was after a few minutes that the brunette stopped, seven white roses in hand as he stood before an arched tombstone, the stone worn with gnarled vines covering parts of the engravings to the extent that they couldn't be seen without being torn away.

**Here lie#  
>Eleanor Valen####<br>Born 19## - D### 20##**

"This is… your mother's grave isn't it?" Raven asked, struggling to see past the vines that had become tangled around the lower right corner of the tombstone.

"Yeah… It is," Vent sighed as he went to his knees, looking at the seven white roses in his hand before setting them beneath the headstone. "White roses… They were her favorite," he said after a few moment's silence. "I remember that much, if anything at all."

" . . . Why don't we leave him alone," Terra said placing her hand on the mage's shoulder. "The two of us will be by the gate. Come get us when you're done."

" . . . "

"Come on, Raven. Let's leave him to his thoughts," the blond said leading her away, leaving Vent to face the aged tombstone. For several minutes not a sound was heard, the graveyard _literally _as quiet as a grave. Finally after what felt like an eternity, the brunette began with the words he'd wanted to say for so long. Words he'd been avoiding for so many years.

"Hey mom… It's been a while," he began.

* * *

><p>" . . . "<p>

" . . ."

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

" . . . "

"He's been in there for too long," Raven said looking down at her watch. Close to an hour had passed since the brunette went to visit his mother's… grave, and the fact that he hadn't come out yet had her worried. "I'm checking up on him," she said getting up.

"Raven," the blond said as her gloved hand grabbed the mage's wrist. "The guy hasn't been home in _years_. Time… is what he needs right now."

" . . . " was the mage's only response as she looked over her shoulder to the top of the hill, just barely catching a splotch of brown and green against the rest of the gray backdrop behind her. Catching a bit of movement, she saw that Vent was alright, and, sighing in defeat, settled herself back down on the bench, waiting for him to return.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile across from the cemetery in a back alley, a pair of figures wearing rugged cloth masks over half of their faces, their attire divided into two tones, observed the brunette at the back of the cemetery, as well as the two girls sitting by the bench at the edge of the cemetery.<p>

"So… It's the brunette at the top of the hill?" one asked.

"Yeah. My contact in records told me he cut through Arkham's firewalls like butter," the other said. "If this kid can do that, who knows what else he can do."

"So what do we do then?" the first asked.

"Get a little leverage on the brat and make him do what we say," the second said before his eyes landed on the two girls. "And those two over there are our ticket in."

"And if he doesn't do what we say?" the first asked.

"Do you even have to ask?" the second asked with a dark grin.

* * *

><p>Minutes later, Raven and Terra were still sitting on the bench next to the Gotham Cemetary, the mage meditating where she sat while Terra made a couple pebbles orbit around her open palm, ready to conceal her powers should anyone be watching. It was at the time that the two were about to talk to one another in an attempt to end the silence around them that Vent returned, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slumped, a grim look on his face as his eyes were now shadowed by his bangs.<p>

"So… That was your mother's grave huh?" Terra asked, earning a nod in return. "Hey. Hey Ven, you going to be okay?" the blond asked as she reached out towards the brunette, only for him to jerk his arm away from her reach at the last second.

" . . . I'm fine," the brunette answered in a sad tone. Nodding, Raven and Terra moved to follow Vent, who at the moment was planning on getting as far away from Gotham as he could, painful memories from the past slowly bubbling to the surface. Should they do so, he didn't know _what _he'd do.

However, the roaring of an engine and the screeching of tires met their ears when a beat-up looking black van suddenly pulled up behind them on the street, the back doors opening and a pair of figures grabbing both Raven and Terra. They wore what looked like prison jumpsuits, except the left sides of them were dyed a different color, the guys wearing face paint on the left sides of their faces that were colored differently as well. Overcoming the absolute surprise at what happened, Vent rushed towards the driver's seat, intent on knocking whoever was in the front seat for a loop.

Unfortunately, it was at this time that the driver looked over his shoulder and panicked, flooring the pedal and driving off, nearly throwing the two that had grabbed Raven and Terra out, the two of which were quickly bound and gagged before they could do anything.

"Hey what're you doing!-?" the first thug, the left side of his face and jumpsuit colored blue. "We were just about to deliver the letter, you dumbfuck!"

"I panicked alright!" the driver replied as the brunette followed after them, then suddenly disappeared. "Hey, where'd he go?" he asked before something landed on the front of the van.

* * *

><p><strong>A minute earlier…<strong>

"What the hell?-!" the brunette demanded as he ran after the van as fast as his legs could carry him, even with his wind-enhanced movement, he was still losing them. _I have to move faster, like back then, _he thought back to that one day of training. _Ah, but turning's practically a non-option. I've gotta think of something else… That's it! _he said as a light bulb went off over his head, _literally, _as he passed under a streetlight. "Soru!" he cried out as he imagined a knife blade flying out in front of him, parting the air while he released a blast of air from his feet, his body flying through the vacuum before he appeared a few meters down the street. "Not _*pant* _enough," Vent said before more knife blades appeared in his mind's eye, carving a path through the air in front of him. "Kamisori!" he shouted as he zig-zagged through the air at a rapid pace, cutting through the air like a razor blade before passing the speeding vehicle, coming to a stop in midair before letting out a cry of- "Geppou!" –as he released a kick at the air to his feet, the move's puff of smoke absent as he moved himself from in midair to the front of the van, landing on it like Spider-Man would.

* * *

><p><strong>Present time…<strong>

"What the hell?-!" the guy demanded as the brunette they were trying to blackmail suddenly came out of nowhere and landed on the front of their van. Swerving the van from side to side and throwing the two hostages around, the blue-colored thug ran up to the front seat.

"Hey, we need him alive remember?" the man demanded. "We can't get Two-Face out of Arkham if you kill our hacker!"

"He just came out of nowhere!" the driver said as he continued to make the van swerve, the greeb-toned TFG member ran over to the passenger side before whipping out a pistol and aiming it at the brunette, who at that moment leapt up, rolling off the roof of the truck and across the ground before coming to a stop, spitting some blood onto the ground before he shot through the air, pushing himself as fast as he could go without spiraling out of control, a silver cyclone covering his lower body and forearms as he shot towards the van which held his friends. Reaching into his pocket with one hand, he quickly pulled out one of Robin's tracking devices, which he kept in his pocket just in case something like this happened.

* * *

><p><strong>A minute earlier inside the van…<strong>

"He's still chasing us!" the driver cried out as he looked in the rearview mirror, the brunette with eyes glowing silver flying after them in the clutches of a silver cyclone. "Get rid of him!" he shouted, his partner stepping over the bound and gagged Raven and Terra before bringing out a grenade launcher, opening the back door before firing the round right at the brunette, an explosion going off as he was knocked off his feet and into a back alley, a loud _**-CRUNCH- **_ringing through the air as the vehicle turned a corner, Vent slumping to the ground after a few seconds.

"Dammit! What do we do now?" the blue-toned TFG member demanded angrily. "That was our only shot of getting the boss out of Arkham!"

"Shut up! This was a stupid idea anyway!" the driver growled as he pulled off the street and down to the pier. Raven and Terra on the other hand tried getting out of the bonds on their own. What had happened was so unexpected that they were unable to put up enough of a fight to get out before they were tied up.

As this was going on, no one noticed the blinking red tracer nestled under the driver's seat, nestled back in a way that it wouldn't be found unless you were actively looking for it.

* * *

><p><strong>Back with Vent…<strong>

"Damn it…" the brunette cursed as he rubbed his sore chest. Had he not created that shield of compressed air at the last second, that grenade could've actually _killed _him. However, if that wasn't his ribs cracking, then what was… "Fuck!" the brunette cursed as he opened his hoodie, the shattered remains of the T-Comm. landing in his lap, a few shards of plastic and circuitry lodged in his skin, which he began to pick out once he let his back rest against the brickwork. "Of all the fucking… Shit!" he cursed as he got the last of it into a pile in front of him, the former communication device too beaten up to even be melted back down into _parts_. Even if _Cyborg _were there, the brunette doubted he'd be able to get the smashed T-Comm. in any form of working order. By himself there was _no _hope of getting that thing back online, and it was the only thing in Gotham that could possibly track the signal.

_Well… _Vent thought as he looked off into the distance, the GCPD main building standing tall against the horizon. _Almost the only thing._

* * *

><p>"There's only <em>one <em>way left in this armpit of a city that I'll be able to find the girls, and it's up there," Vent said as his eyes looked up at the Gotham City Police Department HQ, standing tall above the surrounding buildings with lights on, men and women scurrying around within its concrete walls as they fought an unending war against crime in this city that had hardly any hope for a brighter future.

Standing in an alley across the street from the GCPD HQ, he quickly ran at one wall before running up it a few paces, kicking away from it before leaping onto the next one, repeating the process like something out of Super Mario. His hand finding hold on the edge of a nearby building, he pulled himself up before crouching behind the building's heating unit, peeking around the corner to see that no one had noticed him just yet.

"Alright… Don't draw too much attention," Vent said as he zipped his coat up, hiding the graphic design on his shirt which could be used to identify him later as he fastened his backpack to his frame, placing a bandana on the lower half of his face and pulling his hood over his head. "Here we go," he said as rings of silver energy glowed around his wrists and ankles. He'd tried numerous ways of supporting his body weight while flying, some more strenuous than others, but eventually he found out that putting cyclones at his extremities to provide thrust was the best means to do so. Or at least unless he was wearing one of those winged suits.

With potential costume ideas in mind, he shot through the air in a blast of air, cutting the flow of energy just as he arched over the roof and rolled a bit, coming to a stop as he dusted himself off and looked around. The only security cameras there were facing away from him, but even with that in mind, he knew once he reached his objective that the police would start running.

Which is why he now strode towards a seemingly normal spotlight. However, this spotlight was anything but normal, as perched upon the grate over the giant lightbulb was a large bat-shaped insignia. Vent now stood before the legendary Bat Signal, used for years to mark the need of the Dark Knight in Gotham's many hours of need. Really, you'd think there would be a SWAT Team to handle some of the weird stuff. But I digress.

"Purely manual… except it needs a key," the brunette groaned to himself as he came up to the control panel, finding he'd need a special key to turn the thing on. Since it was still plugged into the outlet a distance away, he decided he'd have to circumvent the control panel and instead activate it the old-fashioned way. Picking the plate of steel away from the side, he shone a penlight inside the machine to see a set of wires within. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," the brunette thought to himself as he got to work examining which wires went where before cutting a coupe wires through with finger-sized blades of wind before he began hotwiring the bat-themed spotlight.

_The circuitwork in this thing is rudimentary at best, _the brunette thought to himself as he continued fiddling with the wires, eventually finding the right combination as the spotlight ignited, the absence of light being cast onto a cloud in the distance forming a familiar bat-like sigil. _There, now all I have to do is wait for-_

"You there! Freeze!"

"Fuck!" the brunette cursed as he got to his feet and slamming the hatch shut, a uniformed officer aiming a gun at him while his other hand went to the radio on his waist.

"We've got an unknown on the roof messing with the Bat Signal," the man said into the radio. "Send backup to the roof ASAP. I'll hold him here until then."

"Like hell you will," the brunette said letting a nickel slide into his palm before rushing forward, the man attempting to pistol whip him only for the brunette to catch the man's wrist and bring his arm down over his right knee, the man's remaining hand going to his now-throbbing shoulder before the brunette grabbed the back of his head and kneed him in the face. It was at this moment however that a squad of GCPD came up onto the roof, and the brunette standing over the man's defeated form with gun in hand wasn't exactly doing wonders for his current situation. "Hey look, I can explain-"

"Light him up!" one of the men shouted as he and the other opened fire on the brunette with submachine guns, the third going off to the left as the brunette went right, taking cover behind the heating unit before the firing stopped, the two cops trying to flank him to the sides. The first one came at the brunette's right and tried to rifle butt him, but the brunette's left hand deflected the blunt end of the weapon before his right foot flew across the man's left cheek, then came back around the back of his head and knocked him to the ground. The other man tried to nail him in the face longways with his SMG, but the brunette kicked it into the air with a high kick before catching it, doing the same in return and knocking him to the ground. Another with a taser tried to get him from behind, but after back-kicking the man in the stomach, Vent twirled around and got behind him before pulling back on the man's helmet, exposing his neck before his right hand went to the man's wrist and made him taser himself, the brunette dropping the man to the ground before he rolled out of the way of a shotgun shot that nearly blasted his face off.

"Damn… So much for going _covert_," the brunette cursed as more men went up the stairs, the brunette running to the corner of the roof and looking for an escape route, only to find open air beneath him, the sound of a cocking gun catching his attention as he now had a dozen GCPD positioned around him and cutting off all ground-bound escape routes. While they kept their guns trained on him, they appeared to be more tempered than the hotheads he took down earlier, a bespeckled man with gray hair turning white at the sides and a matching moustache on his face in a tan trench coat stepping between two men with handguns.

"I don't know how you got up here without anyone noticing, but I'll have you know tampering with police property is a federal offense," the man stated. It took a while for Vent to recognize the man, but he soon saw him as Commissioner Gordon, one of the few _good guys _Gotham had. Still, the brunette wasn't about to let himself be taken in so easily. Especially not when his friends needed him.

"Sorry Commish, but I'm not really in the mood for prints and processing," the brunette said as he gave off a two-fingered salute before leaping headlong over the edge of the building, Gordon and a couple officers running to the edge of the roof and watched as the brunette fell, only for a sudden wind to pick him up and slow his fatal fall into a lofty descent, the brunette rolling across the street once he reached the ground before bolting into a dark alley.

* * *

><p><em>Damn. I should've knocked out the security cameras first, <em>Vent growled to himself a few minutes later as he walked through a dark alley a few minutes away from the GCPD HQ. _Since I won't be meeting Batman that way, I guess I could always bust into Wayne Manor and hope I find the Bat Cave behind a clock or a book case or something like- _he said before the fluttering of cloth in the wind caught his ear. Especially since he was the one manipulating that wind in the first place.

Spinning on his heel, he quickly brought his forearms up to block the descend of a flying drop kicked intended for his once-exposed back. When the kick connected, the brunette was nearly knocked clear off his feet, but he held his ground before releasing a blast of air from his lips, sending the would-be assailant flying backwards through the air before coming to a stop on the ground across from him. The figure wore a mask-like cowled hood with a pair of horns pointing up ward over their head connected to a black cape, the figure well-muscled and covered neck to toe in gray spandex, scalloped black gloves on his forearms and black boots on his feet, with a yellow compartmentalized belt around his waist. Last of all was the yellow oval on his chest with a black bat spread across it. AKA…

"Batman," the brunette returned, hood still up and bandana still concealing his identity. Aside from his shadowed crimson eyes, which he made sure to keep out of the light, there was nothing too identifying about him. Unless he deemed necessary that was.

"Gordon told me someone hotwired the Bat Signal," the Dark Knight said in a plain, monotone voice designed to dehumanize himself as much as possible. Most likely to conceal their identity. "Well, here I am," the man said before opening up with a pair of flying bat-shaped projectiles, the brunette backflipping head over heel before twirling through the air sideways around the two, his hand catching one of them before sending it back at the Dark Knight, who in retaliation tilted his head to the side to dodge it, his hand going to the space in front of his abdomen before he intercepted the hooded figure's punch. The strength was above average, which he noted as his other hand had to intercept the groin-bound right knee of his opponent. Pushing him away, he tilted his head back and narrowly avoided a backwards-flying roundhouse kick aimed for his temple.

"Just so I'm sure, are you _the _Batman, or just a Batman impersonator running around in a suit for shits and giggles?" the masked figure asked, Batman rising to full height when it was clear that his opponent only fought out of retaliation before answering-

"What do you think?"

"I'll cut to the chase," he said reaching into his pocket, pulling out a few pieces of yellow and black-colored plastic before rearranging them in his hand so a shattered **T**-shaped insignia made itself known. "I'm with Robin's team in Jump. I need your help," the brunette said plainly.

* * *

><p>At that point the brunette conversed with Batman, whom by that point had been briefed by Robin on all of his teammates, and had been asked to keep an eye out for the brunette in case he made his way back to Jump through Gotham. After having explained what happened, the two-toned thugs taking his friends before bolting off in a black van, the man clicked a button on his utility belt, a slick black bat-themed vehicle laying low to the ground pulling around the corner.<p>

"Get in," the Dark Knight ordered, Vent looking up at the man, then his car, and then the Wayne Corp: Gotham City branch building in the distancebefore his eyes landed back on the masked man.

"You're making this _way _too easy for me," the brunette said plainly as he vaulted into the Batmobile, the man's face remaining rigid before he too vaulted into the Batmobile, the turbojets on the back flaring to life before it shot through the city like a black blur.

* * *

><p>An undefined amount of time later, Vent having been asked to put a black bandana over his eyes after he strapped himself into the Batmobile, the canopy of the vehicle finally raised with a hiss of hydraulics, the car shifting slightly on his left side before an imposing voice said-<p>

"You can remove the blindfold."

Doing so, he undid the clasps on his seatbelt before vaulting out of the bat-themed vehicle, his eyes adjusting to the low light as he looked around. The place was a large cavern, the stone colored dark blue in the dim lights, a stone causeway leading to a larger stone platform away from the revolving platform that the legendary Batmobile sat on. Following the masked man up, he came onto a larger platform to see a massive computer set off onto one side of the platform, a large platform off to the side dotted with what appeared to be trophies; similar to the trophy room in Titans Tower. There wasn't much apart from that that stood out, aside from the glass cylinders that looked like they were meant to hold costumes, a set of stairs leading up to some unknown destination, and the overhanging lights situated above the stone platforms.

"So… This is the legendary Bat Cave huh?" Vent asked looking around. Rumors floating around Gotham in his youth were a bit dotty as to the place's contents, but everyone could figure that Batman had to put all his gear and trophies _somewhere_. Still, the rumors did the place no justice.

"You've heard of it from Robin I assume," the masked man returned, not finding the fact that Robin was potentially that open about his own operations favorable.

"Not really. Everyone in Gotham just called it that since you're dressed like a bat, bats live in caves, and the _Caped Crusader _has to put all his crime-fighting gadgets _somewhere_," the brunette returned. "As for Robin, not to criticize on your teaching methods, but you could've done a _liiittle _more work on him before cutting him loose."

"What makes you say that?" the man returned.

"For one, he's nowhere _near _as level-headed as you," the brunette returned. "The rest, it's not important, though I have to ask, why'd you bring me here?"

"The Two-Face Gang," the man answered.

"I thought those guys looked familiar. Why'd they take my friends?"

"Maybe because you have something they want," he answered plainly. "Robin contacted me after you went AWOL with one of his teammates, so this as much involves me as it does you. That's why I brought you here."

"Oh so he told you _that_, did he?" Vent remarked. "Tell me, did he ever mention how he practically ran me out of my own home with torches and pitchforks?"

"It may have slipped his mind to do so," Batman returned. "Now, you told me you managed to slip a tracker onto the van before you lost it, correct?" the man asked, Vent nodding in return. "If they're still in Gotham, which is likely, I should be able to track it," he said as he went to the massive Bat-Comp. off to the side before he began typing in commands. A minute later, a black dot with a yellow **T-**shaped insignia appeared on a map of Gotham. "They're being held at the docks."

"Alright then. Point me towards the exit and I'll go get them back," Vent said with crossed arms.

"This is police business. We'll let them handle this," Batman returned stopping the brunette from leaving. Just because this kind of _was _his business didn't mean he had to do _everything _after all, and there were other matters that still required his attention.

"Well then I may as well be setting up lots in the cemetery for them right _now_!" the brunette growled at the masked man. "These guys are working for Two-Face. Shouldn't it be your business to go after them?"

"That fact is still debatable since Two-Face hasn't been _seen_ with said gang," Batman returned swiveling his chair around before getting up.

"Why the hell won't you let me help my friends!-?" the brunette demanded.

"Because this isn't as straightforward as your work in Jump, and you're too close to the situation at hand. You'll only get yourself, and them, killed," Batman said plainly.

"Oh like the GCPD are any better. If they could've done their jobs by _any _stretch of the imagination… Thomas and Martha Wayne wouldn't have been killed right in front of you when you were _eight_!" the brunette said pointing a finger at the man, who froze when those names came up. "Considering _Bruce Wayne _is the only one in Gotham who leads the kind of lifestyle that would let him _be _Batman, and having had a traumatic enough childhood experience to _warrant _those kinds of after-hours duties, it isn't too hard to figure out your secret identity," the brunette said with narrowed eyes. That bit about his parents may've been a low blow, but there was no way he was going to leave his friend's lives in the hands of a police force that couldn't even stop one kid from hotwiring a modified spotlight on their own _roof_. Given, said kid was him who'd been trained for years by a supervillain to be miles above and beyond the reach of the average person's fighting ability, but they should've made it a lot harder for him than they actually did.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," the man said in return, though in truth his jaw was clenched at the very mentioning of his parents. How he had ceased to be a child when he was eight years old.

"_I didn't hear a _no_,"_ the brunette whispered to himself. "So, are you going to let me go get my friends back or not?"

"Not. We'll let the police handle this," Batman said walking off, the brunette's fists clenching and his eyes narrowing.

"Batman…" the bruntte growled as his shoulders shook. "I won't let you hamper my progress," he said with eyes and hands glowing silver, the Dark Knight rounding on him with a trio of Batarangs in hand when he felt the air move within the Batcave.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile at the Gotham Docks in an old abandoned warehouse, which now served as the Two-Face Gang's base, Raven and Terra sat back-to-back in an isolated room in the middle of the complex. From what the two could overhear, the guys who had kidnapped them had originally planned on using them as leverage to get their friend to try and hack through some computer system in Arkham for them. At the moment they were still trying to track the brunette down, since the situation was still "salvageable" in their terms, but if things didn't pan out, they could do what they wanted with the girls. After all, it wasn't like the kid had any idea as to where they were, right?<p>

_Wrong_, Raven thought simply. Vent _had _gotten a tracker onto the van as they were being taken away, and while the fact that he was hit by a grenade worried her, she somehow knew that he was out there, and that he was heading right that way.

True, they could've just as easily escaped on their own, but first the two had to get in a position where they could actually _use _their powers. Being tied back to back with hands, ankles, and mouths bound or gagged made incantations and moving the earth a little difficult.

* * *

><p>"Ooogh…" Batman, AKA Bruce Wayne groaned to himself hours later as he felt his senses coming back to him. Remembering what last happened before he was knocked out, his hand went to where his belt was, only to find a note in its place.<p>

**Batman. I won't let your trust in the GCPD endanger my friend's lives. Do whatever you want to me when this is all over, but I **_**won't **_**let them die because of my mistakes.  
>P.S.<br>I'm borrowing your belt.**

**P.S.S.  
>Don't try tracking me electronically. I've already prepared countermeasures.<strong>

Flipping the note over, he found what appeared to be his utility belt's tracking device taped to the back. Cleanly-removed and easily-reattachable as well.

"_*Grunt* _Deathstroke's apprentice indeed," Batman groaned as he got to his feet. Still, even if he couldn't track his belt electronically, he still knew where the brunette was heading.

_I just hope he didn't take my _car_ as well, _he said as his eyes went to the platform where he parked the Batmobile.

* * *

><p><em>So… This is the place, <em>Vent said as he got to the address he acquired from the Bat-Comp.'s readout of where his placed tracker was traced to. The place was a large abandoned warehouse right on the water, out of sight and out of mind of the GCPD, which made it perfect for gangs to hold themselves up in for months at a time since the cops were spread thin already.

Truth be told, he'd never actually _tried_ siphoning the oxygen out of a person's lungs to render them unconscious before, that little threat/promise at HIVE being more of a bit of grim humor than anything _else_, but something about how Batman dismissed his friend's importance to take the fight up himself caused something in him to snap. Something he thought he'd gotten out of his system years ago.

The drive to take what you desired, no matter the means or who got hurt, as long as you achieved the end. i.e. Slade's modus operandi if he remembered the words correctly.

Still, the brunette figured if Batman could survive the Joker, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, Bane, and yes, even World War II _–he'd watched the old documentaries where the Justice League suddenly appeared-_, that simply being knocked unconscious by brief oxygen deprivation wouldn't kill him. All he'd done was knock him out, not make him brain dead since the man was still breathing after he'd hit the ground if not shallowly. Taking the belt and three batarangs was just a spur-of-the-moment action he figured would bite him in the butt later. But still, with all the gear he now had on him, he was confident that even if his powers somehow stopped working, that he'd be able to use his skills alone to get in, untie his friends, and get out without too much trouble.

Of course, heh, things were never that simple.

* * *

><p>The inside of the warehouse was a mix between assembly line, storage, and office space in that order, the assembly line for packaging while the storage space had been modified to form a wall-to-wall labyrinth, limiting who could go in and out as they pleased from one end to the other. The side windows had been either boarded up or painted black, so unless a patrol chopper <em>–which would've been seen coming from a mile away, quite literally- <em>came by to see the interior lights in use from the skylight, no one would know the Two-Face Gang was operating from there. Their current mission had been to break Two-Face out of jail, since the people would be more inclined to do as they say if their boss was out of a high-security cell.

When word got to them from one of their bugs in the City Records building that some kid had supposedly hacked his way through Arkham's firewalls looking for info, they thought they'd hit the lucky break they'd been looking for. However, things didn't really pan out as they planned when some idiot blasted the guy with a grenade launcher, a rare gem found in one of the crates they had used to create their maze, which could be used to herd trespassers into a more… _favorable_, position.

It was at this time that a group of TFG members were patrolling the space between the storage and office areas, the high ceilings darkened since the overhead lights had to be lowered, otherwise people would be able to tell they were there even _if _the windows and such were boarded up or painted over.

"Damn this is boring," one of two guys standing by a door to the office part of the warehouse said as he watched the exit of the maze of crates in front of him, his back to the wall.

"Hey, it's a day of easy work. Don't complain," the other one returned with crossed arms. A third man was pacing back and forth along the line of the maze just in case someone tried squeezing out of the sides or went over it. However, a zipline suddenly wrapped around his foot before pulling him up into the darkness, his yelp of fright not missed by the two before a pair of arms wrapped around his neck in a chokehold.

"What the hell was that?" the first gang member cried as he looked up at where his comrade had been pulled up into the darkness. Seeing a bit of movement on the upper rafters, he aimed his gun in that direction in case it was the Bat.

The next moment a flashlight shone up on a person's face from below, said face being contorted into a menacing scowl with narrowed crimson eyes staring him down, as though gazing into his very soul and being _pissed _at what he saw. This caused the man to fall on his ass and drop his gun before the figure above disappeared into the darkness once more when the light went off, a blur of black shooting past him before the chains holding nearby light fixture to the ceiling was struck, dropping it to the floor with a loud _**-CRASH- **_and blocking out a portion of the area.

"Who was that?" one guy asked the other as the two went back to back, another lighting fixture being taken out leaving them with only a small spot of light around them.

"I don't know! It wasn't the Bat," the second said before his hand went to his side. "I'm going to radio this in-" he said before a bolo suddenly came out of nowhere and bound the two together, the duo dropping to the ground with the second dropping his radio. The communication device slid across the floor to the edge of the shadows, a black hiking boot coming down on top of it and crushing it with a decisive stomp. Connected to it were a set of legs covered in black jeans worn at the knees, a green camouflage hoodie coming into view before a brown-haired teen with red eyes came into view. What was odd was that he was wearing a large compartmentalized yellow belt askew across his hips, as though he'd taken it from a guy larger than himself.

"Hey fellas. Let's talk," the brunette said tossing a pebble-sized piece of concrete in his left hand. "Your… _gang_, has something which belongs to me, and I'd like to get it back. Mind pointing me toward the recent… _spoils_?" the figure asked sickly-sweetly.

"No way! Two-Face would _kill _us!" the first said in a panic. Whoever this guy was, he couldn't he as bad as Two-Face, right?

"Wrong answer," the brunette replied as he flicked his wrist, a black bat-shaped projectile unfolding in his hand causing the two's eyes to widen in fear and/or recognition before he flicked the piece of concrete in his other hand up at the lights, _**-CRASH-**_ shattering the bulb and allowing darkness to swallow them whole.

* * *

><p><em>Hey Raven, <em>Terra thought towards the mage, the bluette having established a telepathic link between them due to the close proximity. _How long have we been here? How long until Ven gets here?_

_For the fifth time, I don't know when- Wait… _Raven suddenly froze, feeling a familiar presence enter her area of divinity, or whatever it would be properly called. _He's here._

_Ven? He's here? _Terra asked before smiling against her gag. _Ha! I knew that grenade couldn't take him down! _she cheered as the low _**-thwump-**_s of bodies hitting the floor came from outside the door of the room.

_Still, we could've at least been _trying _to loosen our bonds, _Raven thought to herself. It wasn't as much that she couldn't cast spells without speaking them orally, but rather it was more time consuming than merely chanting them. That and the chafing of her wrists and ankles did no favors for her concentration. Think what you will about random goons and thugs, but some of them knew how to tie a good knot.

The next moment a silhouette stepped before the door's polarized glass window, seeming to be fiddling with the doorknob before slapping something onto the hinges and stepping back a bit. A couple _**–pop-**_, _**-crack-**_, and _**-BOOM-**_ noises later, billows of smoke rose from the holes that were where the door hinges once were, the silhouette behind the door seeming to exhale in its general direction before the offending barricade fell to the ground with a heavy _**-THUD-**_, a familiar silhouette stepping into view a moment later.

"Vhh-hhh!" the two girls cried out in joy behind their gags, the brunette stepping forward and whipped out what looked like a bat-shaped boomerang from his wrist before cutting the ropes around their chests, ankles, and wrists before peeling the gags away from their mouths. "Ven! You're okay!" Terra cried in joy as she leapt at Vent and wrapped her arms around his neck, the brunette doing so in return as she nuzzled her face into the side of his neck, Raven simply regaining her composure and taking a deep breath of air now that her mouth was freed.

"They didn't hurt you did they?" Vent asked the two of them, Raven rubbing her chafed wrists before curtly saying-

"They must've figured if anything happened to us, you wouldn't hack into Arkham for them," Raven said simply. For a "goth" by Earthly definition, Arkham was nearly as iconic as black eyeliner and razor blades, so she recognized the name pretty quickly.

"Heh, I guess Tamiko's lessons paid off," Terra chuckled towards the brunette, who she was still holding onto.

"Uh… Heheh… Kinda sorta," the brunette returned as he scratched the back of his head bashfully. "Anyway, let's get out of here before-" the brunette said turning around, only to come face to face with- "Batman… Hi…" he said nervously, the man apparently having followed after him in the time it took him to beat down half of the Two-Face Gang, and was now standing before him. _Huh. I wondered what those noises were as I was untying the girls._

"My belt… Hand it over," the man said strongly, Raven and Terra's eyes going to the brunette's waist to see the yellow compartmentalized belt resting askew on his hips, then to the Batman's lack of one before Terra came to the conclusion that-

"You stole Batman's _belt_?" the blond openly gaped, Batman's eye twitching behind his mask, though the white polarized lenses hid it from anyone who wasn't paying attention to the slight "tell" that he was not amused.

"I got my friends back. _Not that the _cops _were any help," _he muttered under his breath, "so I don't need this thing anymore," the brunette said thrusting the belt onto Batman's chest, him and the girls passing him as he fastened it around his waist. "Come on now, let's get out of DAMN!" he said coming into the open area between the maze and office space, seeing KO'd bodies scattered about, illuminated by the flashlights the gang had most likely been using when the overhead lights were taken out. "What did you _do _man?"

"I cleaned up the mess you made," Batman replied simply as he walked past the brunette.

_Hn. Guess it's hard to take the high road when he doesn't have his handy dandy utility belt, _the brunette noted to himself. Hearing stories of Batman's legendary skills, it made sense that he could do what he did without his tools, just a lot more sluggishly. It was as the group of four were passing by that one of the KO'd thugs began to wake up, his eyes widening on the brunette before he backed away into the wall.

"G-G-Get away from me you monster!" one of the gang members cried out. At that moment Vent froze where he was, locked mid-stride as that one, solitary word ripped once-healed wounds asunder, a plethora of painful memories flooding the forefront of his mind before something deep inside him just _snapped_.

"_**M-Monster!"**_

"_**Stay away from me you freak!"**_

"_**Why don't you just crawl in a hole and die!-?"**_

"_**Rot in hell you demon!"**_

"I…" Vent growled as he clenched his fists, his eyes clamped shut and his fists clenched. "am not…" he growled as his knuckles turned white, the bones in his hand popping as the glow of his hands intensified, thin rays of light shooting out between his closed eyelids and from the corners of his eyes. "A MONS**TEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRR!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!**" he suddenly _ROARED _as his eyes and hands released a massive burst of light, the wind kicking up around him, a cyclone forming with him in the middle, his eyes and hands shining through against his silhouette.

"Move!" Batman said lifting Raven and Terra off their feet before launching his grappling hook towards the open doorway at the side, which he had used to infiltrate the base, latching onto a parked car at the entrance before the three were yanked away from the fuming brunette.

* * *

><p>Despite the girl's protests at being yanked around, Terra's moreso than Raven's, Batman vaulted over the car he'd used as a grappling point before running across the street. It was as they reached the opposing sidewalk that a massive silver cyclone shot out through the center of the warehouse, the massive frame of the overhanging skylight sent into the heavens as the silver cyclone soon shot into the overhanging dark gray skyline. Looking up, the cyclone must've been several meters across, and growing as the girth of the spiraling winds continued to grow, cement, mortar, wood, and steel inhaled into the greedy silver beast as it continued to grow, the warehouse disappearing bit by bit as the cyclone expanded. Inwardly gaping at the sight, having seen Red Tornado do something similar in the past though not to such a magnitude, the ground shaking beneath him and the others shook before all at once, the last of the warehouse was torn from the ground, inhaled by the greedy silver beast that reached into the skies, leaving an empty lot in its place as the cyclone raged, slowly drawing everything that wasn't bolted to the ground into itself.<p>

"What's going on?" Raven asked shielding her eyes from the debris flying around, her jaw dropping when she saw the massive gray cyclone overtaking where once the abandoned warehouse stood, a tiny speck of silver gleaming several hundred feet above the ground. Were it any bigger, she could've sworn it would be big enough to consume Titans Tower whole.

"Your friend's experiencing a massive runoff of aerokinetic energy," Batman mused as he grabbed the nearby wall. "I'm pretty sure what that one guy said in there is what set if off."

"But what do we do?" Raven asked as her eyes went to the cyclone, debris whirling about at a rapid pace. "If we try and go inside that thing, we'll get _mulched._"

" . . . I'm going in," Terra said clenching her fist, causing the mage to look up at her. "I'm the only one who can do it, right? My powers oppose Ven's, no matter how great his are."

"True… No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it," Batman said sagely. Something he'd learned in China ages ago. Or at least _ages ago _to him. Living the life he did, he felt older on the inside than he did on the out.

"Right. I'm going in," Terra said as she fastened her goggles to her face before her hands and eyes began to glow, the Earth at her feet rumbling as the lenses of her goggles began to glow as well. The next moment chunks of the ground and buildings around them began to peel away from their homes and converge upon Terra, pieces of brickwork forming around her legs and lower body forming thick armor resembling tree stumps as they dug into the ground, pieces of the road and sidewalk shielding the rest of her body, but mostly the left side, leaving the right side of her face and matching arm exposed so she wouldn't be too weighed down.

Before anymore could be said, the Earth beneath Terra's armored legs began to buckle before the ground began to push her towards the cyclone, pieces of debris buffering her body, her heavily-armored left arm raised to protect the side of her head as she was buffeted by the raging storm she forced her way into, wind howling in her ears like a roaring beast. Hazarding a look to the right as she trudged her way forward, the ground grasping at her feet with each step, she thought she could see the Two-Face Gang thugs being thrown about inside the cyclone, but paid it no mind as the winds began to calm around her the closer she got toward the center.

By the time Terra got to the heart of the storm, her "stonemail armor" had been nearly pulverized to gravel, a few small plates no more than clumps of dirt clinging to her frame as she trudged against the hurricane-force winds that buffeted everything around her. However, once she got away from the wall of wind, things in the center were oddly calm, if not for the occasional gust of wind sending her hair flying to the side.

"_Don't lose control… Don't lose control… Don't lose control…!"_ a pained voice cried out from above. Looking up, Terra's eyes widened at the sight of the brunette floating within the throes of the cyclone he was kicking up, his hands clutching his head as though he were in pain. Though his eyes were clamped shut, the silvery glow was bright enough to pierce through the thin membrane of skin and muscle, glowing silver tears flowing down his face from the corners of his eyes as he repeated those three words over and over again, like a broken record.

_Ven… All this time, you've carried such a burden on you, _Terra cried at the sight. When she tried to use her powers full swing, they'd spiral beyond her ability to control. However, what that man said to him must've caused old wounds to be torn open, because now he himself, who she thought had complete mastery of his powers, the person she'd used as a measuring stick to gauge her abilities of control for so long, was the same as her. Born without tremendous power he could no longer control.

And he needed her help.

"Don't worry Ven! I'm coming!" Terra called out against the winds as her own eyes and hands glowed silver. Throwing the latter upwards, a platform of stone shot up out of the ground, carrying her towards him before the eye of the storm closed around her, the platform being torn from the earth and broken apart like it were made of paper mache, the blond sent spiraling away from her friend wildly as the winds clung to her, throwing her about as pieces of debris flew towards her. Throwing out her hands, she caused the earthly particles in the oncoming projectiles to vibrate until the stones disintegrated into dust, the blond glad she put on her goggles before venturing into the raging maelstrom that had consumed her friend. However the next one was too large for her to break apart, and so she took the force of it headlong, her head banging against the hard surface. She wanted to pass out, but she knew if she didn't then she'd be as good as dead, and Ven… She wouldn't let that happen.

Narrowing her eyes and clenching her fists, the tips of her fingers and toes glowed as she began to make hand and footholds in the stone that had slammed into her, climbing to what would be the top before she willed some of the stone to form braces around her ankles, offering her some stability as she looked towards the brunette, planning her approach. Looking around, she saw large pieces of concrete, steel girders, and all assortment of debris spiraling about in the off-silver cyclone, the heavy materials being thrown about as though they were made of paper. Seeing that there was a pattern to them, she caused the earth beneath her feet to detonate, shooting off toward the nearest slab of cement. Landing on it, she began to tumble forward before once more she willed the earth to form braces around her feet. When she was level again she shot off, this time landing on a steel girder before placing her feet on it, clumsily using it like a surfboard before her eyes landed on the brunette, a silent gasp leaving her lips as she saw that the brunette's nails were now drawing blood, his dark brown hair staining red as his life's blood mixed into his glowing silver tears, streams of slightly-glowing burgundy flowing down his face and beginning to stain his shirt.

_***Cue Terra's tune from the latter part of Episode 16: Terra where Beast Boy reaches out to her***_

"Don't worry Ven! I'm coming!" the blond cried out before she crouched down, building as much power into her legs as she could before she pushed off the steel girder, which in the hurricane-force winds lanced through five buildings before stopping once it breached the cyclone. For a few fleeting seconds she flew towards him, the brunette repeating the words she herself had said so many times in the past. When she was about to reach him, she had almost been thrown to the wind, but by sheer luck she was able to grab onto the back of his shirt at the last possible second, struggling to pull herself towards him. "Ven! Ven, I'm here!" the blond cried out as she tried to get through to him. "Ven! Please! Wake up!" she cried as tears began to leave her eyes and fill her goggles, the girl blinking them out as she kept her line of sight clear. When it did, she saw the brunette turn to her slightly, tears and blood staining his face as his glowing silver eyes, now opened, looked on at her pleadingly. Like those of a child looking towards their mother after scraping their knee on the asphalt. "It's okay, Ven! I'm here!" Terra cried as he slowly turned towards her, the brunette reaching out to her as another wave of tears left his eyes, the blond reaching out towards his arms before she pulled him toward her, wrapping her arms around his neck and resting his head against hers. "Ven! It's okay! You don't have to be afraid anymore! It's alright!" the blond cried out as she tightened her grip on the brunette, Vent holding onto her in return.

Moments later the winds began to die down, the pair slowly descending toward the now barren ground where the warehouse had once been. Only the bare bottom of the foundation remained, the rest of the debris cast all across the slums and into the bay, the derelict vehicles parked nearby having been thrown end over end before landing in all manner of places. As the winds died down and they began to fall, Terra quickly summoned another platform of earth to catch them, breaking down its surface to absorb most of the shock before she lowered them to the ground, the stone settling with a low _**-thud-**_ that echoed through the slums before everything grew quiet.

"It's okay Ven," Terra cooed as she removed her left glove. "It's over. It's all over," Terra sighed as she wet her thumb before wiping the blood and tears from the brunette's eyes, Vent sniffling a few times as he slowly descended into unconsciousness. "Ven… All this time I thought you had absolute control of your powers. That they'd never spiral beyond your ability to control. But now… I'm sorry I wasn't there for you more."

"Well…" Batman said as he climbed out from behind an overturned car. "Now that that's over, we should probably be leaving," he said as Raven came out of a portal just behind him. "The commissioner will be here soon, and I don't want to explain why a cyclone suddenly appeared in the slums and ripped a warehouse out of the ground."

"Right…" Terra nodded as she pulled the brunette's left arm over her shoulder and grabbed his waistband with her remaining hand, struggling to pull him along before Raven came over and did the same, lifting some of the burden from her.

"Terra… Thank you," Raven sighed after a few seconds.

" . . . It was no problem," the geokinetic said with a soft smile, the two coming up to Batman just as the batmobile pulled around the corner, the canopy lifting as Batman signaled for them to get in. Awkwardly the two hefted the brunette into the car, the mage and geokinetic squeezing into the passenger seat before they pulled Vent into the car, the brunette now sitting in the two's laps. After the two girls struggled to get the seatbelt around themselves and Vent, their faces suddenly heated up as once the vehicle started, the brunette's hands fell right onto their thighs, a shiver going up through their spines despite how it was entirely accidental.

As this was going on, Batman let out a low chuckle, somewhere deep inside his psyche at how Raven could've just used her telekinesis to lift the blond, but had somehow forgotten to do so.

* * *

><p>"Can we take these blindfolds off?" Terra asked when the car finally lurched to a stop. After the two had gotten over their mad blushing, Batman had handed the two a pair of bandannas, instructing them to put them around their eyes before they could continue. Considering he was both Batman <em>and <em>their ride, the two agreed before they held Vent flush to their chests. In addition to that, they had to cross their arms behind the others back, trying to make themselves mutually comfortable during the remainder of the trip.

"You can," Batman returned plainly, the two removing the black blindfolds before they fumbled with the clasp of the seatbelt, undoing it before they got out from under the brunette _–as perverted as that may've sounded-_, before dragging him out and once more carrying him along. Batman led them towards a cot off to the side, the two laying Vent down as gingerly as they could. While Batman prepared a diagnostic scan, Raven fluffed up the brunette's pillow as best she could, Terra placing his hands atop his stomach before she wiped the rest of the blood and tears away from the brunette's face.

"What happened?" Terra asked looking down at the brunette. "Nothing like that had happened in all the time I've known him. I thought he'd been in perfect control of his powers the entire time."

"Being home for the first time in years must've brought up some bad memories," Raven sighed as she looked down at the brunette, delicate fingers brushing away a blood-stained loch of hair away from the teen's face.

"It was likely that due to his emotions being at the breaking point, as well as being called a "_monster_", brought about memories long buried, causing both an emotion and aerokinetic runoff," Batman said crossing his arms before a scanner folded out of the bench and began to scan the brunette, a green light covering him from head to toe for a few moments before it returned to its original position, folding back into the bench before a piece of paper printed out. "He's fine, just emotionally and physically exhausted," Batman said turning on his heel, cape flapping behind him as he made his way up the stairs. "Stay where you are, and don't touch anything."

"But what if we get-" Terra said only for Batman to disappear up the stairs to parts unknown. "Hungry…" she finished weakly before she sighed. "Great. Now what?" she asked as she began digging through her sling bag, which had somehow survived the maelstrom brought about by the aerokinetic brunette.

"Here," Raven said passing the blond an ordinary snack bar, old memories arising in the blond's mind at the sight of it before she accepted the kindly-given offering, peeling back the wrapping before she began to dig in. "So… Even when you first met, nothing like this happened?" the mage then asked.

"Yeah…" Terra sighed. "Back when we first met… two, three years ago if I'm remember correctly, he seemed to have perfect control of his powers. As for me, well… not so much."

"I can tell," Raven replied, the blond pouting at the jab, but took it in stride. Last thing she wanted was to bring the Batcave down on top of Vent. She wanted to limit the landslide/cave ins that nearly killed the brunette to once in a lifetime.

For a few minutes the two were silent as they waited for the brunette to awake, the only proof he was still among the living that his chest was still rising and falling. Soon however footsteps began to creep up on them from behind, the two turning to see a thin man in a black and white suit, balding with white hair on the sides of his head and a thin black moustache walking towards them. In his hands was a silver tray with tea and coffee cakes, a few finger sandwiches on an accompanying platter.

"Who are you?" the blond asked.

"I'm Batman," the man replied.

"No way, man," Terra returned.

"Just _once _I'd like someone to believe me," the butler chuckled as he set the tray down on a nearby table, thinking back to a similar exchange between him and a young hero named _Static_.

"So Batman sent you down then?" Raven asked as the man set the tray down, motioning for the two to take whatever they pleased off of it. Going to the teapot, she saw that it was herbal tea, coincidentally her favorite, and wondered if liking it was a given for dark and creepy, no, _misunderstood_, heroes.

"Of course," the man returned with a curt bow as he went over to the trophy portion of the batcave, pulling a feather duster out of seemingly _nowhere _before he began dusting some of the cases, the giant coin, dinosaur, and other larger-than-life/people "trophies" likely requiring specialized equipment to dust them.

"I'm going to call Cy for pickup. I've had enough _vacation _for the time being," Raven said reaching for her T-Comm., only to get no reception. "Tch. No signal. Great," she grumbled as she shut the compound-like device. They'd probably have to wait for Batman to let them out.

* * *

><p>"Hey Raven, isn't there some sort of spell you can use that can get us out of here?" Terra asked.<p>

"Maybe, but I won't risk it at the moment," Raven said looking over to the cot behind her as she drank tea, Terra munching on finger sandwiches while wondering why they were called as such if they weren't made out of fingers. "Besides, there isn't that much of a rush."

"Maybe…" Terra sighed as she leaned back in the chair she'd procured, looking up at the stalagmite-lined ceiling. "You know, for a supposed _Bat_cave, there aren't that many _bats _flittering around."

"They're currently hibernating," the butler now known as _Alfred _answered as he dusted off the giant Bat-Comp. "Were they not, they'd probably be enjoying some… fresh _blood_," he chuckled to himself as he cleaned between each of the keys, not noticing the way the two girls shuddered, their eyes going over to the sleeping brunette to make sure the wasn't being used as a buffet line. "If you're worried about your shared boyfriend being used as a buffet line, don't be. The bats that make this cave their home may bite and scratch, but they much prefer insects over people."

"He's not my/our shared boyfriend!" Raven and Terra cried at the same time, Alfred chuckling at how easy it was to get a rise out of the two. Nothing like Batman, who wouldn't even laugh at his jokes unless he was out of costume.

It was at that moment that Batman came back down from the steps that most likely led to the outside, a plain expression on his face as he made his way to the three.

"I've made arrangements for you to leave," Batman said plainly. "Gather your belongings and be sure you have everything."

"And you're sure it's safe for Vent to be moved?" Raven asked.

"It is. Once you have everything ready, stand over there," he said motioning to the center of the main platform, the two girls nodding before they slung their bags over their backs, Raven now remembering she could've been moving Vent around with her telekinesis the entire time as she moved both him and his back to the center of the main platform. "Batman to Watchtower," he said placing a hand to his right ear. "Three for transport outside of Gotham."

"Wait, what did you mean by-" Terra asked before particles of white and blue light began to sparkle around them, the trio and their belongings disappearing in vertical bursts of light.

* * *

><p>"-that?" Terra asked as she suddenly found herself no longer in the Batcave, but on a green hillside just outside of Gotham, which was visible off in the distance.<p>

"Most likely some strings with the Justice League," Raven answered plainly. "So, I guess I'll be seeing you later?" she asked facing the blond.

"Yeah. I'll be by the Tower in a few days," the blond returned. "You take care of Ven for me, alright?"

"Yeah, I will," Raven returned with a nod before looking off into the distance where Jump was located, a massive black bird swallowing herself and Vent into its ebony form before shooting north along New Jersey's coast, Terra heading off on her own vector a few seconds later.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in the Titans living room, the sun was setting in the distance, casting shadows across the bay as they did their own thing, though a bit glumly seeing as how they hadn't heard from either Ventus or Raven that entire day. Cyborg and Beast Boy were playing handheld games off to the side, a nice change of pace since it brought about less violence than when they had to fight over the <em>nice <em>game controller. Starfire was watching an episode of How it's Made, featuring Holograms, Package printing, Skin cultures, and Canned Corn. Robin on the other hand was thinking of what he would say to Vent when he got back, and not just because it was to avert an unfavorable alternate/probable future, but because he truly was in the wrong back then, and he shouldn't have said the things he'd said.

It was at this time, right before dinner, that a black form phased through the south wall before it swooped across the C-shaped sofa, depositing the civilian-garbed Raven and the darkly-clad Ventus onto the black cushions, said brunette currently sleeping.

"My dear friends Raven and Ventus! You have returned to us!" Starfire squealed as she suddenly got up from where she was sitting and pulled the two into a hug, Raven grimacing at the bone-crushing grip while Vent suddenly took a sharp inhale of breath, eyes going wide as though he'd been recusitated.

"Hey, you're back!" Cy cheered as he paused his game, going over to the two returned Titans before clapping a hand on their shoulders. "So, how was your trip? Anything cool happen for you two?"

"You bring us any gifts?" BB asked, only for Cy to bonk him over the head for asking something so insensitive when the two had just returned.

"Bad news; my T-Comm. got kinda smashed," Vent said pulling out the remains of the T-Comm., which he'd stuffed into one of the pockets of his backpack. "Good news; I got you something cool from a super-genius I met out in Dakota," he said passing Cy the disk Richie gave him, containing blueprints for the voice-activated ice box.

"Hey, what about me?" Beast Boy whined.

"We were on a sabbatical. Not a vacation," Raven said curtly.

"Aren't they the same thing?" Beast Boy asked.

"No!" Raven growled back, a coffee mug on the nearby table suddenly detonating. _Maybe I _shouldn't _have reinforced those mental barriers, _she thought to herself.

"Ah _man _is it good to be home," Vent said working the kinks out of his neck and back from Star's vicegrip-like hug before he sensed Robin coming up to him. "_Yes_?" he asked in a tone that implied he was expecting the spiky-haired teen to bite his head off. Again.

"Ventus…" Robin started rubbing the back of his spiky-haired head nervously. "I'm… After what I said to you… Well what I'm trying to say is I'm-" he said before Cyborg elbowed him in the side. "Sorry!" he said quickly as he nursed his aching side. "So… We cool?" he then asked holding out a hand to the brunette.

" . . . Yeah," Vent said looking at the Boy Wonder's extended hand as though it were a poisonous snake. "We're cool," he said shaking hands. "You know, we're like oil and vinegar."

"We go together…" Robin stated.

"But we don't mix," Vent said bumping fists, coincidentally to how Virgil and Richie do.

"Phew. Glad _that's _been resolved," Cy said with a hearty sigh.

"Oh yes, it is most glorious that friends Robin and Ventus are friends with each other once again," Star cheered.

"Maybe _now _things can start getting back to normal," BB sighed.

"Somehow… I hardly doubt that," Raven said with a sigh, though a happy one.

* * *

><p>Having gotten back together, the team went to Pizza Corner to celebrate the team being reunited. However, something that didn't go unnoticed by Vent was that when the people's eyes landed on him, they suddenly became more cautious than they were, talking to the people they were next to with hushed tones, some steering clear of him as though he carried the plague. As it turned out, shortly after Vent and Raven had left on their "sabbatical", word had gotten out that the Teen Titan Ventus was once the apprentice of the supervillain Slade <em>–as well as video testimony to support the claim-<em>, and since then the people began speculating what side the brunette was truly on. The team figured it could've been any number of people at HIVE who started the rumor, though Cyborg figured it was Gizmo since he was most likely recording that "scene" in the gym between Ventus/Tempest and Slade/Slade's robot doppelganger.

The brunette admitted to the group that he had _known _it would eventually be an issue, but figured it would've been _Slade _to let the cat out of the bag, rather than some little hothead like Gizmo. Still, that didn't stop the team from celebrating the group getting back together.

Finally that evening after the team had gotten back to the Tower, Vent and Raven regaling their adventures during their time off, the two nixing their little stop at Smallville for personal reasons, the team split up and headed to bed after a long day. Or rather, everyone sans Raven did, said mage floating down the hallways towards Vent's room since it was less cumbersome than _walking _down the overtly-long halls. Really, she wondered just _why _they let the building end up **T**-shaped. It would've been just as easy to move about if it were a plain vertical tower.

It was in the middle of her musings that she almost bypassed Vent's room entirely, the engraved name on the door humorously reminding her of that chat the two had about the brunette's superhero name, and if he should make it something more _relatable _to the common person or not. Knocking on the door, she was greeted with a plain- "Come on." –the mage opening the door to find Vent behind his large office desk that sat in the center of the room, the city lights at his back as he typed on his computer, most likely catching up on the happenings of Jump since they had been gone.

"Hey Vent. You busy?" Raven asked.

"Not really," Vent said closing his laptop after a few seconds. "So, what's on your mind?"

"Well… I just wanted to say, _thanks,_" she began. "For letting me come with you on our va- _sabbatical_," she corrected herself.

"Hey, think nothing of it," the brunette said waving the matter off. "After all, I more or less simply dragged you along for my own benefit."

"Maybe," Raven returned. "But you weren't the _only _one to benefit from our… arrangement," she said in return. "Anyway, I wanted to say thanks. For being my friend I mean," she said with a soft smile.

"Please, the pleasure's all mine," Vent returned. "Besides, I've been thinking it over, and while I'll still kick your dad's butt when he gets here, there's at least _one _good thing about him."

"Oh? And what's that?" Raven asked curiously.

"Thanks to him, I got to meet _you_," the brunette returned with a soft smile, causing the mage's eyes to go wide. "Well. _*YAWN* _Good night Raven," he said stretching after letting out a yawn. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah… See you later," she returned with a smile, though it died down when she realized just how little time she had left with him. _I'll need to make the most of my time then._

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own One Piece (Soru, Kamisori, Geppou). I do not own Mirror's Edge (disarming techniques). I do not own Mulan (mountain quote).**

**Author's Note:  
>Sorry if the plot for this chapter was a little lackluster (for those of you who saw it that way), but no matter how many times I tried thinking about it, this was how a part of me wanted this chapter to play out. The plot for this chapter may've been a little far-fetched, but hey that's how FanFiction works. Also, there may or may not be a few mistakes, since I didn't do a full proofread before posting it. I'd been working on the bits and pieces forever before putting it all together, so don't stress me with the details.<strong>

**The Two-Face Gang members essentially look like they do in the ****Batman: Arkham City**** game.**

**Also, on note of the "city records building", I don't know if things really work like that, but I came to the conclusion that such records would be kept in one place and at least **_**partially **_**available to the public. I'm not sure if that's too accurate, but I try my best, so if I misinterpreted how the bureaucratic system works, please feel free to let me know.**

**My portrayal of Batman… I see him as the kind of person who'd take the proper channels in any given situation that he can (hence why he hides money from his company being used on Batman/Justice League stuff rather than just pocket the money itself with no paper trail left behind). After all, Commissioner Gordon doesn't call him out of his cave for every mishap or misdemeanor in Gotham. He'll let the man and the police force do what they can and only step in when the need arises. As for Vent's opinion of the GCPD, well, you do the math.**

**The thing with Terra going to Vent **_**was **_**inspired by what happened between Beast Boy and Terra in Episode 16: Terra, mostly in the fact that Vent's powers have the capacity of growing beyond his ability to control, leaving him just as prone and vulnerable as Terra once was.**

**P.S.  
>To <strong>_**Gui**_**, in your last Review you mentioned a Tournament of Heroines Teen Titans story that piqued my interest. If you would be so inclined, would you mind giving me a little more information to go on as to where I can find it? An author or even a name would be nice.**


	25. Terra Firma: Terra's Return

**A pre-chapter announcement I have: The Tournament of Heroes and Tournaments of Heroines rosters are now closed & set, given how that pseudo-arc will be starting next chapter. For the Heroes, I have accumulated 14 names (whereas there were originally only 8 in canon). For the Heroines, I have accumulated 12 (whereas there were only 3 confirmed and a couple of silhouettes shown in canon). **

**I'd like to take the time to thank _Raidentensho_, _Kamen Rider Chrome_, and _Gui _for the suggestions given, and hope they, as well as you, enjoy the upcoming chapters.**

**P.S.  
>There's a new Poll on my Profile if anyone's interested in helping me decide on a future project. I'd really appreciate the imput.<strong>

* * *

><p>A few days had passed after Vent and Raven returned to Jump, with things relatively returning to normal between the Titans and themselves, as well as Vent and the citizens of Jump.<p>

Cyborg on one hand was practically _seething _at how the brunette not only let someone look over his work _–that he put his own circuits into mind you-_ without his consent, but also completely totaled his T-Comm. beyond the point of repair and even salvage. However, he also couldn't help but bow to the brunette for bringing the automated ice box blueprints back _–after the brunette convinced him to help with it of course-_, as well as worship the genius that had concocted said blueprints in the first place. The automated ice box, or T-Box, was colored similarly to the T-Car and Cyborg himself, a large Titans insignia decal slapped onto the side casually. It was slightly larger than a washing machine and dryer set next to one another, and an improvement he made onto the original design was that the machine was able to keep stock of the drinks that were in it digitally. Robin meanwhile agreed to not hold Vent's past over his head, since the past was in the past _–unless someone from the past time traveled into the future/present, but that was a moot point-_. Starfire was simply happy to have two of her best friends back, and had taken to calling all the Titans her best friends after the brunette told her you could have more than one best friend. Beast Boy was slightly depressed about the brunette or bluette not getting him anything, but the shiny new T-Box distracted him after it began handing out drinks with robotic hands.

Vent himself had to run "damage control" when word _-as well as concrete evidence-_ got out to the press that he had once been Slade AKA Deathstroke the Terminator's apprentice. The mayor required some convincing, but eventually gave in because A) the past was in the past, and B) his little girl was a Ventus fangirl, and member of the Teen Titan: Ventus FanClub that operated within Jump. It also helped that the brunette when crime fighting tried to keep the collateral damage to a minimum, so that was good to. The people in general… would require more convincing, and Vent figured if the people couldn't see him for who he was through the merit of his actions, rather than who he used to associate himself with, then he should just do his job and ignore the people. After all, you can't please _everyone_.

However, something that didn't go unnoticed by the team was that the the team fought criminals, that Vent relied more on his martial arts and a borrowed bo staff more than his powers. In the times he _did_, they were usually in short bursts, nothing significant to say the least. While Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy figured he was just trying something new, Starfire and Raven saw differently. For Starfire, coming from a race of emotionally-driven alien warriors meant she could read people's emotions with uncanny accuracy, and in the brunette's eyes, she saw fear flicker through those crimson orbs whenever he used his powers, though couldn't figure out why since he had always displayed such exemplary control over his aerokinetic abilityes. Raven on the other hand knew the exact cause. After Vent's meltdown in Gotham _-which caused several thousands of dollars worth of collateral damage to Gotham's slums-_, it was obvious that he feared his powers running amok, and so he began repressing them. Ironic how after she had begun gaining better control of her powers with the brunette's indirect aid, that his own control began to suffer for it at the price of his inability to use his powers confidently.

It was at this time a week later after Vent and Raven's return that the team were all out on the roof of the Tower, the sun setting behind the city as they relaxed after a hard day's work of stopping criminals and such. Robin and Ventus were on one side, facing off against Cyborg and Starfire in a game of volleyball, the two prior silently coordinating their movements with one another and leaving the cyborg and alien in their dust. If they could apply this to a real-combat environment, the two could very well become the next Dynamic Duo; If Robin ever saw fit to drop the loner mentality he'd been carrying around that was. Beast Boy was off to the side refereeing, simply flipping Rob and Vent's scorecards into place, Raven sitting off to the side in the shade and meditating, her signature mantra leaving her lips as she chanted, though from time to time she'd keep an eye on her friends, trying to be more open without being too forward about it. She was still a little torn up inside about not telling Vent that one detail she didn't want to, but she figured it would be better he live on in ignorance, a smile on his face rather than sulk for the next couple of years knowing there was nothing he could do to save her; his best friend. Though one would think he used the term loosely, the passion he put into each time those words left his lips prooved otherwise.

It was at this time that Robin redirected the spike sent from Cy back into the air. Clasping his hands together, he threw the brunette into the air as high as he could, the brunette bringing his fist back before hitting the ball with everything he had, sending it a nearly straight-down spike towards the ground. Cy dove to stop it from hitting the ground with his forearms. However, when the ball landed on his arms, instead of bouncing off, it continued to spin wildly, steam rising from the plates on his forearms before the ball suddenly flew at his face with a _**-thwack-**_ before it bounced to the right and out of the ring, bouncing a few times before going over the end of the roof.

"_*Sigh* _I'll get it," Beast Boy sighed saddly. He was a little upset when he found out that the two had run into Terra on the way back, but didn't bring her back. However, had he stayed to listen, he would've known that Terra was due to come back any day now if her words were any indication, but rather he had taken to sulking instead.

Back to reality; before he could leap over the edge, a deep, rumbling sound met his and the others ears causing him to stop. A few seconds later, a slender silhouette rose into view atop a rocky platform, long hair blowing in the wind and a hand on their hip while the other hand held the lost ball, the light peeling away and revealing who she was.

"So…" Terra said with a half-smile as not a trace of panic, fear, or trepidation made itself known in her voice as she muttered this single word. "Which team am I on?" the girl asked as she tossed the ball back to the group, Vent noticing her attire had changed since their… adventure, back in Gotham. Her new attire consisted of a black crop top turtleneck with long sleeves bearing a yellow-orange **T** insignia on her chest, yellow-orange shorts with a brown pouched belt replacing her old denim shorts, and a familiar yellow and black sling bag over her shoulder to complete the ensemble. The goggles hanging around her neck, gloves on her hands, hiking boots on her feet, and butterfly barrette in her hair however remained consistent.

"Terra!" Beast Boy and Starfire suddenly started screaming repetitively as they rushed at the brunette, pulling one another back like children in an attempt to get to the blond first before it was Star that managed to get to the girl first, wrapping her arms around the girl's lithe frame in an alien-powered hug.

"Oh, hello, long-lost friend! You remember me, yes?" Star asked happily as she held the blond in her arms.

"Of course, Starfire," Terra said in a strangled voice. "I still have bruises from the _last _time you hugged me," she said before she was released from the girl's grip, Beast Boy being the next one to come up to him.

"Terra! You're…" he said before losing his nerve. "I mean, I…" he said holding his hand to shake. "How's it… heh… wassup?" he asked, the girl chuckling at his fumbling before giving him a chaste hug, the changeling crumpling like a wet sock and sliding to the ground, hearts in his eyes.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite little rock-and-roller!" Cy said coming up to the girl and extending for a high five.

"Cyborg!" the girl said returning the sentiment. "Robin! What's shaking?"

"Good to see you again," Robin returned shaking hands, Star and BB running up to get back in the conversation only for the latter to win out.

"Good?-! Is he kidding? It's _great _to see you again! I didn't think I'd ever see you again!" he said excitedly, delivering the last sentence with enough force to blow her hair back. "Raven, wake up! Terra's back! Isn't that awesome?"

"So. Finished your last little _adventure _before coming here huh?" Raven asked simply.

"That's right?" Terra said with a lopsided grin. "But hey, where's Ven? I thought he'd be the _first _to greet me," she said trying to hide the disappointment in her voice before her cerulean orbs landed on his form, the brunette at the moment simply holding the volleyball in his hands while looking at nothing in particular. "Hey Ven. Ven, you there?" the girl asked coming up to him and waving a hand in front of his face.

"Wha- huh?" he asked when his eyes snapped back into focus. "Oh hey Terr. Sorry I wasn't paying attention. I had… something on my mind," he said sadly.

"_Is this about Gotham?"_ the girl asked in a hushed tone so only the two could hear, the brunette nodding sadly before the girl took the ball from his hands. "Come on man, crack a smile. You know I can't stand seeing you frown," she said as she suddenly began tickling him, trying to get him to loosen up.

"Ah- Wha-Hey! Cut it out Terr! I'm ticklish there!" the brunette said between his laughing as the girl continued to tickle him. "Well _ha_! Take this!" he chuckled as he began to tickle the girl in return, who could only giggle madly as he hit all her sweet spots, Beast Boy and Raven off to the side blushing for their own reasons when the two toppled over to the ground, grabbing at one another and tickling the other as much as they could to get the other to stop, the brunette eventually coming out on top. Literally.

"Ha… ha… ha… Looks like you win again?" Terra panted between breaths, her hair spread out beneath her, her chest rising and falling with each breath. "Wanna go another round?" she asked with a grin, the innuendo spreading through the air and causing everyone, especially Raven and Beast Boy, to recoil given how the brunette was pretty much straddling the blond. Looking up, the blond and brunette saw the flushed look on the Titan's faces before they looked to one another, then to the position they were in before they both became as red as stoplights, separating from one another as though they couldn't do so any faster.

"Wha-What's _wrong _with you guys?-!" Vent cried out with a flushed face. "It was just an innuendo!"

"You know, I do have to ask, what is the innuendo of which you speak?" Star asked, her expresion unflushed since finding people in varying positions of _that _nature was commonplace on her home world of Tamaran.

"Oh, an innuendo is-" Vent said before Terra clapped her hand over the brunette's mouth.

"That's girl talk for another day," Terra said with a flushed expression, but on the inside was missing the warmth the brunette's body provided. Not like _that _way, you perverts. "A-Anyway, I was hoping your offer didn't expire. You know, to be a Titan," she said scratching the back of her head nervously, only to meet the stunned silence of the others. "Oh. I see," she sighed dejectedly. "I guess I'll see you around. Later Ven-" she said before Robin's hand clasped her shoulder.

"The offer didn't expire," the Boy Wonder said trying to be tactful. "We're just concerned."

"Yeah, it's 'cause, well, um, last time when you kind of freak out and ran away, you didn't exactly… uh… you weren't completely, uh…" the changeling said nervously before Raven cut in.

"You couldn't control your powers," she said curtly with an edge to her tone. Most likely from that "shared boyfriend" commend the other day. _Rachael Roth does _not _share her man with some blond bimbo! _a part of her said deep in her mind. Of course due to the reinforced mental barriers she had erected since then, she had not heard.

"Hel-_lo_? That's why I left in the first place," Terra said smiling broadly. "Robin said I needed practice, so I've _been _practicing," she said adjusting her goggles on her face. "Check it out," she said as she jumped backward, landing on a boulder and quickly bringing up three others. Bounding nimbly from one to the other, she rode them to a higher elevation and took the spares with her. Off she went, guiding the stones through a loop-the-loop like a roller coaster, dropping from the lead and landing on the one at the end of the line, those on the roof awed by the performance.

"Glorious!" Star cheered.

"Whoo-yeah!" Cyborg added.

"Dude! She really _has _gotten better!"

"She learned a few tricks. Doesn't mean she's any less dangerous," Raven said curtly, but then regretted the unintended message behind that statement when she saw the way Vent shrunk back on himself. Most likely because of how she'd by extension called _him _dangerous as well.

Back in the sky, Terra was flying by, her face saying she was at the top of her game, the four rocks sailing through the air in a diamond formation with her in the lead. Circling the tower, she skimmed low over Jump City Bay, her passage throwing up a wall of waves as she flew away from the Tower, the rocks now in a four-abreast line as she began a steep climb before sending them veering away from one another. A couple of quick barrel rolls and she was on a headlong charge straight toward the building, the remaining three rocks approaching fast from the remaining cardinal directions.

At the last possible second, the four earthly missiles shot straight up into the air after nearing mere feet of crashing, all of them turning into a sharp climb as the blond landed neatly in a crouch. Standing erect and groaning with the effort of the performance, she sent the rocks high in a tight spiral towards the heavens, throwing her hands to the sides and causing them to collide, resulting in a pyrotechnic display that could be seen all across Jump, the yellow sparks sailing through the evening sky.

"Ahhh…" Star gaped.

"Ohhh…" BB gaped.

"Fantastic," Cy also gaped.

"See?" Terra said propping her goggles on her forehead. "I've got _everything_ under control," she said before a sudden tremor shook her out of her happy mood. When the tremor ceased, a few annoyed pairs of eyes looked in her direction while one brunette rubbed the back of his neck nervously, the blushing girl simply replying- "Wasn't me." –as she waved her hands in front of herself defensively, her heart swelling with pride when she saw Vent confirm what she said with a nod and a smile. He truly did trust her, even after all of her past… mishaps.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later inside the Ops. Center, the team looked over a computer-generated map of Jump City, four pulsating points marked on it, forming something reminiscent to a trail.<p>

"Earthquakes," Cyborg said confirming what the instruments read out. While Vent and Raven were out, the Ops. Center had gotten an upgrade; Instead of a giant TV rising out of a slot in the floor _–though the thing was still kept there-_, the images from the computer monitors or TV feed could be projected onto the large window facing the ocean with such clarity that you may as well have been watching a regular-sized TV. The fold-out jumbo screen was only in case something happened to the projector. "Small ones, but they're happening all over the city."

"Too many to be natural," Terra mused, Beast Boy popping up behind her with hearts in his eyes, the brunette keeping him a distance away from the girl so he wouldn't violate her personal space like he had on the roof. That and because a part of him didn't want the changeling to get too close to Terra. For some reason.

"That's because they're not earthquakes. They're a trail," Robin said looking intently at the map, two more quakes suddenly appearing overhead. "Something is moving under the city. We need to find out what. Titans! Go!" he called out as Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Ventus charged out, Robin and Raven following, but then stopping short to turn back. "Are you coming or not?" he asked facing the blond.

"Does this mean I'm on the team?" she asked.

"It means we could use your help," Robin answered, the blond giving him a satisfied smile before running for the door and brushing past Raven as she passed. However, when the blond grazed Raven's form, three images of the blond desperately trying to control her powers, as well as Slade's face on a small round screen came into view, badly unnerving her by the sequence that she had picked up.

"Everything okay?" Robin asked placing a hand on the distressed mage's shoulder, who at the moment was shaking off what looked like a photographic-negative image of Terra's face from her mind, the features set in a cruel smile.

"Can't tell. Are you sure it's safe to have her around?" she asked.

"Not entirely, but everyone deserves a second chance," Robin returned, still not sure if he was the one who gave _Vent _a second chance, or if it was really the other way around. Raven on the other hand could only frown, the girl's surface thoughts worrying her somewhat. She said she'd had one last "adventure" to go one before she returned to Jump, but as to the _context_, well, she'd keep her eye on the geokinetic. Make sure she didn't try anything funny.

* * *

><p>It was evening in Jump, the sun setting shortly after the "fireworks" display that had painted the sky over Titans Tower gold. The people were going about their business, the nighttime very quiet with traffic flowing normally in the streets before something very tall and broad erupted from beneath the roadway, throwing drivers and pedestrians into chaos. The source o the obstruction as a long, wormlike machine with an enormous drill bit on the front end, which it had just used to punch through the pavement.<p>

At where the worm's head would be, the drill then retracted into its body, being replaced with a sloped metal head, a small screeching mouth on the end, with six small red lenses surrounding a large red lens, all of which likely served as eyes. It was at that time that the bus which had become stalled tried to back away from the tunneling worm, only for the front two tires to be within the crater, the public transportation vehicle tilting forward and back precariously as the passengers grew more alarmed with every passing second. The tunneling worm at that point knifed towards the street, sending people running for their lives, the bus which had hit it suddenly being yanked back by a pulse of black telekinetic energy right before the worm impacted. It was as the worm began to rise to full height that Vent rushed over to the door, pulling it open before herding the people out, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Terra charging past him to confront the mechanical beast before them.

"You missed the bus," Robin said curtly.

"Looks like you'll have to take a cab!" Cyborg shouted as he hefted a now-empty cab above his head before lobbing it through the air and scoring a bull's eye on the worm's head, the mechanical invertebrate rearing up and screeching at them after recovering, heading right for them.

"Azarath Metrion-"

"I got it!" Terra said cutting in front of the mage, the girl raising a large stone spike in the worm's path, which when plowed into flung the thing backward. As the thing's head tilted backwards, it overbalanced before gravity gained the upper hand, the mechanical beast falling to the asphalt, shacking the entire block and ruining a few cars. Once it was down, Beast Boy thundered perpendicularly to it in the quise of a massive woolly mammoth, ramming the head end into a nearby building. The changeling trupetted as best he could as he looked into the thick curtain of dust that had risen, about to trumpet again at his victory before an infernal red light shone within the dust. Before he could react, a beam shot forth and nailed Beast Boy, sending him flying across the street before he returned to human form, which at that point had bounced off the pavement before striking the side of a building face-first.

"Beast Boy!" Vent called out as he had finished evacuating the last of the passengers, the last one being an elderly woman who he'd had to help down each step. It was at this time that the giant tunneling worm had risen once more, the large red lens on its forehead glowing, revealing just what had sent Woolly-BB flying. The thing fired at Beast Boy again aiming for a decisive shot, but a ring-shaped flare of yellow encircled him before a pavement fracture, Terra's work, had pulled him out of the crossfire. As the thing changed its sights to Vent, the brunette dodging before the bus detonated, Terra leapt atop the pavement fracture carrying Beast Boy before she sailed into the air, Starfire firing a flurry of starbolts when they had crested the surrounding rooftops. The thing sent out another blast, swiveling its head about to get a shot at her, whereas Cyborg was blasting the thing with his sonic cannon full tilt.

"Vent! Can you get me up to its face!" Robin asked as the brunette landed beside him.

"Sure. How's your grip?" he asked tossing Robin his white and blue hoverboard, causing Robin to wonder just where he kept that thing.

"What does that matter?" Robin asked catching the piece of hardware.

"Just get _on _the damn thing!" Vent enunciated, the Boy Wonder settling his feet on it. Before he could ask what the brunette intended to do, a flurry of silver winds buffeted his back in the form of a tailwind, the Boy Wonder having to lean back and situate himself on the board as both he and it were sent sailing through the air, spiraling around the worm as it tried to shoot at Starfire. When the worm began to fire at _him_, the winds chaotically spun around him, causing him to barrel roll and somersault maddly around the beams, the mostions of which would've thrown him off had he not been grabbing onto it as though his life depended on it; because it kinda did. It was once he was able to situate himself that he leapt off the board, throwing handful of grenades from his utility belt forward before Star flew by and plucked him out of the air.

As the two flew to street letel, the projectiles sailed into the beast's open maw, a string of internal explosions causing the thing's body to bulge in several places before it opened its maw and belched out a billow of smoke, the Boy Wonder's grenades having just given it the world's worst case of indigestion. After Star had towed Robin to a safe distance, Terra depositing Beast Boy beside Vent, Beast Boy now in pterodactyl form flew at the thing with Cyborg in his grip, the latter launching a salvo of blasts from his cannon that left the worm reeling, the two Titans easily avoiding the retaliatory beams it fired at them. It was at this moment that Terra and Robin riding a piece of the street flew up the worm's body, the spiky-haired teen giving the blond a confirmatory nod before he leapt off the earthy mount, breaking into a dead run across the worm's body towards its head. Despite the worm's efforts to blast him, Robin had gotten onto the back of its head and brought out his bo staff with a quick twirl, the cylindrical piece of metal extending to full length before he jammed one end into what appeared to be a maintenance and leaned all his weight into it. Despite his best efforts however, the thing broke in two like dry wood, the worm soon rearing up his head and attempting to buck him off.

As Vent and Star shot up through the air to get Robin to safety, Beast Boy in the form of a triceratops with Cy on his back charged at the thing, horns and cannons blasting the thing's metal hide together. Stumbling backwards from the force of the hit, Cyborg quickly fired again, Terra lifting a large piece of pavement behind him, which was large enough to cover the full width of the street. However, before she could lob it, Raven's ink-colored magic took hold of the heavy material and stopped it in its tracks.

"No!" Raven called out as she held it back.

"What are you doing?" Terra cried as she glared at her.

"It's too dangerous. Someone could get hurt," Raven said as she pulled the pavement towards herself, trying to make it as safe as she could for her team, whereas Vent was climbing up the thing's back trying to finish what Robin started.

"I know what I'm doing! Trust me!" Terra called out as she willed the stone fragment to come towards her again, only for Raven to pull the thing back, the sheer magnitude of their opposing powers causing cracks to appear in the pavement. It was as the worm was about to fire at the two that the brunette atop its head abandoned his primary objective, leaping sidelong around its face with fingers trailing downt he side of its face before the brunette gave a powerful wind-packed kick to the underside of the thing's chin, causing the red beam to sail over the two girls instead of at them. The shockwave however caused the crumbling piece of pavement to detonate, sending both Terra and Raven backward in opposite directions, the radiant wave of energy from the explosion knocking the worm to the ground as well.

"Way to go," both Raven and Terra growled to one another, Robin coming between them and putting a hand on both their shoulders as the others ran off.

"Come on! That thing's getting away!" he said leading the two towards the new tunnel, the only trace of the worm left being the slight rumbling of the ground as the worm dug its way through it. And even that disappeared after a few seconds. It was at this moment that Robin's T-Comm. went off, the Boy Wonder opening it to see Slade's face on the static-lined screen.

"Slade."

"Robin. I see you let my ex-apprentice back on your team," the man opened, causing Robin to scowl at him before he continued. "I do hope I haven't called at a bad time."

"The worm! What are you planning?" the Boy Wonder demanded.

"Well, now, Robin. If you're so very curious, why don't you come down here and find out?" the man asked, the screen going dark causing the seven teens to stare, absolutely confounded before Robin clasped the device shut, leading the team down the long winding tunnel that the worm had used to escape.

* * *

><p>"The evil worm has left a very long trail," Starfire saw prudent to say five minutes later after the team followed the drilling worm down the tunnel it had dug to escape. "This tunnel continues for at <em>lest <em>two more plinthorgs," she added, the others decided they didn't need to know.

"And we're more than three hundred meters below sea level," Cy added looking down at the scope on his forearm. "What's it doing down here anyway?"

"Whatever Slade tells it to," Robin said leading the team down the tunnel, Terra and Raven hanging back.

"So, sorry about our little tug-of-war back there," Terra opened up in apology. "You know I wouldn't have let anybody get hurt. _Especially not Ven,_" that last part was more to herself than anything else.

"Whatever," Raven said back plainly.

"Okay, look. I don' tknow what your problem is, but get over it. If I'm gonna be a part of this team, we have to get along," the blond argued and the two stopped walking.

"You're not part of this team- Not yet! And if you endanger my friends again, you never _will _be!" Raven growled back, knowing the debris from that piece of concrete the geokinetic had tried throwing earlier would've hurt her friends more than the worm. "The next time I tell you something's too dangerous, TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!" she growled with a burning red face, her visage deflating as she stalked by, leaving Terra to catch up to the group.

"Um, why does she hate me?" Terra found herself asking Beast Boy since both Robin and Vent had taken to the front of the team.

"Ahh, she kinda hates everybody. It'll be fine. Raven just needs time to get used to you," Beast Boy said reassuringly. _"I think she's still getting used to _me,_" _he added under his breath, causing the girl to giggle a bit. Walking down the path a few more minutes, they come to a large open space, no other way out aside from back.

"Dead end," Vent said looking around. "How the _hell _does something that big just _disappear_?" he asked looking all around, only meeting undisturbed stone walls.

"Not necessarily," Robin said approaching a wall with his T-Comm. out, the device beeping as he came to a slightly disturbed wall that the brunette hadn't noticed before. "I'm picking up a signal from deep inside the rock."

"Way deep. Electronics… and a heartbeat," Cy said adjusting his optical implant and scanner.

"Slade," Vent growled staring at the rock. Had he been born with Laser Vision, he would've given Slade a new pair of _nostrils _with the look he was dishing out.

"How about we dig down there and see what's up?" Terra asked coming over to the wall, adjusting her goggles on her head and rubbed her hands together to warm up, only for the whole room to suddenly shake. After the tremor settled down, the blond felt a glare at the back of her head. "Are you gonna give me that look _every _time there's an earthquake?" she asked incredulously, only to recoil when a drill cut through the floor next to them. "Whoa!" she cried as Star was about to throw a Tamaranian slider at the intruder, only to gasp and backpedal as _another _drilling worm punched through the floor, followed by a third and surrounding the seven fighters.

"Titans! Ready!" Vent barked as he and the others went back to back and got ready to face the three mechanical menaces, only for them to completely bypass them and instead punch through the walls behind them. "Well…" Vent said feeling about embarrassed about getting so pumped up. "That was strange."

"Hel-_lo? _The good guys are over here!" Beast Boy said as though he _wanted _them to come back.

"Because _we _are not their target," Starfire noted.

"Three of those worms together could wreck anything in the _city_," Cyborg said running some calculations on his forearm.

"We have to stop 'em!" Terra said clenching her fists.

"We _have _to stop Slade," Raven argued.

"Split up," Robin ordered quickly. "Cyborg, Starfire, Beast Boy, go after the worms," he ordered facing the three. "Terra, Raven, Vent, we're going after Slade," he said facing the other three.

"Star, BB, let's move!" Cy ordered as the group took no time going into the tunnels the worms took off into.

"I can make a tunnel on my own," Terra said before her eyes turned to Raven. "Shouldn't she go with-"

"No. Raven's almost as good at moving earth as you are," Robin interjected. "We're digging through solid rock. I'm going to need you both," he said throwing a glance to Raven.

"Can we please just get going already," Vent said uncharacteristically bluntly. "The air quality here's so poor, I think I'm going to be _sick_."

"What's the big deal. The air here's fine," Robin said breathing in through his nose deeply before huffing it out as if to prove the point.

"Maybe to _you_, but if you were me, you'd know the air quality in those tunnels was sub-standard at best," Vent said back huffing a gout of air from his nose. "Without proper circulation, all you'd be breathing in is CO2 due to the buildup in the next few minutes. Wherever Slade is, he's probably got an alternate air source going for him, otherwise he'd suffocate down here. As for me, well, my powers don't work so well underground."

"Is it because you can't see the skyline?" Raven asked. She'd figured that with the amount of time the brunette spent looking off into the skyling during their little sabbatical, that it had something to do with his powers, similar to Starfire's emotions being directly tied to hers.

"A little," the brunette said holding his fingers an inch apart, looking at the stone walls surrounding him a bit warily. _I was hoping to a_void _finding myself in a place like this during my superhero "career". I feel like the Earth's gonna swallow me up… No! _he suddenly berated himself shaking his head. _This all started after Terra- I have to believe in her, _he said clenching his fist. "It' nothing, really. I have faith," he said shooting the girl a thumbs up, whereas off to the side Terra partially understood where the brunette was coming from.

"We need to get moving," Robin said ignoring the brunette's psychosis. "I've got a fix on the signal. We need to go forty degees down, six hundred meters deep.

"No problem," Raven and Terra said together before launching black and golden beams respectively into the rock face. "Is that as fast as you can go?" Terra asked smugly.

"Not even close," Raven said picking up the pace, Terra keeping pace right behind her.

"Careful. This rock isn't stable. Just take it a little…" Robin said looking up from his communicator, only to see that Raven, Terra, and Ventus had already gone a hundred yards downrange, and still going strong. "…slow," he said as he looked at them incredulously before he began following after them.

* * *

><p>As Raven, Terra, Ventus, and Robin made their way underground to where Slade was operating from, Cyborg, Starfire, and Beast Boy all pursued their own drilling worms, each meeting difficulties along the way. Cyborg tried firing a clamp-launcher at the worm and hitch a ride, only for the worm to drop sharply downward and used the change of momentum to throw the cyborg down. Starfire tried trapping the worm rear-first by melting the rock around it after pinning it with a cave-in, only for the thing to wriggle free before shooting off all over again. Beast Boy in the form of a cheetah threw himself at the worm before transforming into a wolverine and digging his claws into its metal hide, only to fall back along its length before being dumped unceremoniously onto the tunnel floor, the changeling commenting on how he wouldn't need to cut his fingernails for a few years.<p>

It was as the worms began heading towards the surface that the squad of four managed to punch through into an underground cavern, the group's eyes widening when they saw a large cylindrical chamber held in place by a massive orange cage, with a few miles of metal fencing holding the surrounding rock at bay. Sitting in the center was a cylindrical computer console with keyboards spaced at regular intervals around its perimeter, a broad beam of light emanating upward from the middle ring and showing a holographic image; On it was the underground cavern at the bottom, several thousand feet of earth, and finally Titans Tower. Circling at the top of the cavern was a circular chassis similar in appearance to the three digging worm's chassis.

"Robin! It's the Tower!" Cy suddenly called out through the T-Comm.'s high band. "They're attacking Titans Tower!"

"It's not just under attack," Robin returned as the horizontally spinning ring at the top of the chamber began firing a trio of lasers into the solid bedrock overhead. "It's about to be underground. Cyborg! Take those things down!" he shouted into his T-Comm. before throwing a boomerang at the ring overhead, only for the throwing projectile to bounce off with little effect. Raven's black shots yielded the same results, and the worms moving about too much for Vent to cut through it with his wind blade. "Not even a scratch!"

"If we can't break the drill, hacking this computer is our only shot at shutting it down," Vent said dropping down to one of the keyboards and began typing in numerous commands to bypass the internal programming the worms were running by, lines of binary code appearing on the reflective surfaces of his crimson-colored orbs, giving him a surreal, yet alien look to him as he _hacked _through walls of binary code while avoiding the security measures or be locked out. Out of the shadows however, Slade suddenly swooped out and drop-kicked the brunette out of the way, aiming to stomp the brunette into the metal walkway with a steel boot a moment later before Robin tackled the masked villain sidelong, Raven and Terra helping the brunette to his feet while the Boy Wonder fought off Slade.

"Robin! Hang on!" Vent said fighting off the ringing in his ear. _Another inch to the right and he would've cracked my skull wide _open_, _he groaned rubbing the left side of his head, cursing as he found his ear had begun bleeding. Oh, and that there was a boot-shaped indention pressed into the left side of his head. That would most likely bruise in the worst possible way.

"Forget about me! Shut down the drill!" Robin ordered as he fought off Slade, leading him into the service elevator and buy the others some time to act. This however seemed to play into Slade's game plan, because once they were in, Slade activated the waist-high gate keeping them inside.

"God, my head's killing me," Vent groaned as he weaved from left to right as he made his way to the keyboard, his right hand clasping to the console to the point that the metal began to rend while his remaining hand stayed by his throbbing skull. _I have to focus. Any less and we could lose everything._

"Ven, move aside," Terra said levitating a boulder above the console the brunette was trying to hack, which in itself proved difficult with only one hand. "Why hack when you can smash?"

"No!" Raven said enveloping the rock with her presence before pushing it back. "We don't know how this thing works. Destroy the controls and we may _never _be able to stop it."

"Or we might stop it sooner and save our home," Terra argued as she put more effort into moving the boulder over the console. In the background, Vent had taken his bleeding hand away from the side of his head before he began hacking the computer with renewed vigor, though his vision tunneling wasn't helping any. "Why can't you just trust me?"

"Cause you don't de_serve _it!" Raven growled back, groaning as she kept the rock at bay. "I have to meditate every _day _to keep my powers under control, and I'm supposed to believe that you can just suddenly control _yours_? Trust is something you have to _earn_!"

"Then how? How do I make you trust me?" Terra asked letting the boulder drop off to the side.

"You can start by trusting me and Vent," Raven said pointing to herself and the brunette, whose legs at the moment were shaking from the effort of stifling the pain spreading through his skull, his concussion-inhibited hacking efforts proving fruitless after the computer's security measures managed to lock him out. This of course caused him to not notice the alarms going off around him, nor the massive boulder heading straight for him.

"Vent!" Terra cried as time seemed to slow in front of her, the massive boulder about to crush both him and the console. There was no way she'd be able to stop it in time, given its size and the speed at which it was moving. Vent's death would be all her fault.

"Vincent!" Raven cried out as she threw her hands toward the brunette, his real name missed amidst the chaos as the brunette's body was suddenly enveloped in an ebony glow before he was yanked away from the console, Terra catching him in her arms right as the boulder flattened the console, the laser emitters at the top of the chamber breaking away the ceiling at a greatly accelerated rate. The console's destruction had removed whatever inhibitors were set in place, the devices put into overdrive by the _literal _system crash.

"Okay. Maybe smashing the computer _wasn't _the best idea," Terra sweatdropped as she held the injured brunette in her arms, the haze in his head beginning to clear as he shook his head. When his vision finally cleared, his eyes widened in horror at the sight that greeted him.

"The console!" Vent cried before his eyes went upward. "The Tower!" he cried as the trio of cutting laser beams made another pass, the slab of rock overhead being forced down by the Tower's own weight. While on the surface Cyborg and Beast Boy had managed to make the surface-to-cavern lasers cutters disengage, it was a fruitless effort as the cavern-to-surface laser cutters six hundred meters below suddenly punched through to the surface, the then-cut cylinder slowly sinking into the bowels of the Earth.

"We have to go! There's nothing we can do now!" Raven called out as the slab of rock bore down upon them.

"Yes, there is! Trust me!" Terra shouted as she let Vent stand by his own power as her eyes and hands began to glow bright yellow, a pair of wide-angle beams firing from her hands and into the rock face with a savage yell. The energy struck the lower face of the monolith bearing down on them overhead, the blast smashing the drill around the AOE apart and causing them to crash around the team, flattening the surrounding walkways leaving the center area isolated. While she had held it up for a few seconds, the sheer weight from above proved too much and began to drop again, her knees buckling from the strain as she fought a losing battle.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven chanted before twin ebony beams fired off from her hands, eyes glowing bright white as she began to push up against the stone formation above, Terra straightening up and pushing up against the rock formation as well. However, even with their combined efforts, it still proved to be too much for them. The massive weight above was still bearing down on them, and their powers were beginning to breach the rock face instead.

"V… Ven…!" Terra cried as she struggled against the slab of rock bearing down on her. "We can't do this by ourselves! We need your help!"

"I'm on it!" Vent shouted as he shook his head fiercely to get the haze out of it, standing across from the center of the platform the two were on as he raised his hands to the air, his hands extended before he began to spin his arms, twin cyclones colored silver soaring skyward before striking the rock face with a resounding _**-THUD-**_, dust spiraling about as he kept up the barrage, his arms ceasing to move once the cyclones had been generated.

"Ven! Push harder!" Terra shouted out. While he falling island's progress had been slowed, it had yet to be halted completely. While it was now descending at inches a second instead of feet, they were still losing this battle.

"I'm pushing as hard as I can!" Vent grunted as he put everything he had into the updraft.

"No you're not!" Terra snapped back, shocking the brunette. "You're stronger than this! I know you are! Everything you've done until now has been complete and total _crap_!" she said causing Raven to balk. "You have so much more power than you're using! Just like in Gotham! You shredded through that warehouse like it was _nothing_! So come one! Be a man and quit holding back!"

"I… I can't…" Vent said as tears began to leak from his glowing silver eyes eyes. "If I lose control… You could be hurt… I can't do it…" he sniffed as he fell to his knees, the tornadoes on his arms wavering. "I… I just can't."

"You can, Vent! You can!" Raven shouted as she picked up the slack. "You control your powers! Not the other way around! Now take hold of them, and do what you were _born _to do!" she said trying to get through to him. "You're Ventus! Teen Titan of Jump City! Wielder of the winds!" she shouted, only to find she wasn't getting through to him. Biting her lip, she mustered forth all her willpower before yelling out- "You're also my best friend in the whole world, and the person I admire the most!", Vent's eyes snapping open when a wave of black energy was released in all directions from the mage's body, almost knocking them off their feet.

" . . . Alright," Vent said getting to his feet, wiping the last of the tears from his eyes after that very heart-warming pep talk. "Together! On three!"

"One…" Raven said building up her powers.

"Two…" Terra said doing the same.

"THREE!" Vent said as all together, they released as much power as their bodies could, magic, earth, and wind all pushing up against the collapsing island above them as they raised it up with everything they had. Slowly, the glow around Vent's hands and eyes began to increase before his forearms followed suit, then his biceps, the glow then covering his entire form. It was at the moment the expanse of the air within a yard in every direction around him began to glow that his eyes instead of glowing silver returned to their original color, both of which narrowed before he and the others released a primal roar, Raven's magical beams increasing in width and magnitude, as did Terra's geokinetic beams, a massive cyclone with the same force as the one from Gotham, though not the same size, shooting up from his body and began pushing up against the slab of rock above them, which was now beginning to raise.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile with Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire, all of whom were sulking on a stretch of beach in Jump bay, could only stare at the ground as Titans Tower had sunken below sea level. However, when a strange rumbling sound met their ears, Beast Boy and Cyborg looked up, gaping at the sight that greeted them.<p>

"No way."

"Starfire, look!" Cyborg gaped.

"I cannot. Our home is… _*GASP*_!" Starfire suddenly gasped at the sight that greeted them, Titans Tower beginning to rise from the depths, gold, ebony, and silver beams radiating from beneath the island before the Tower rose to its full height, standing triumphantly in the skyline once more. "Saved! But how?"

"Terra," Beast Boy smirked.

"Not just her," Cy said bringing up an arm to his face as the wind radiating from the multi-colored light-show beneath the island caused the wind to push out in all directions, the waves lapping against the shore and Star's hair whipping back in the sudden breeze.

"Terra, Raven, and Ventus," Robin said from the T-Comm.'s high band. "Working together."

* * *

><p>After the team had stopped the center of Titans Island from collapsing below sea level, Robin helped Vent out of the cavern after promptly passing out from the tremendous release of aerokinetic power he'd not only unleashed, but controlled with a degree of mastery unheard of. With that done, Raven and Terra set to work on bracing the island from underneath with massive pillars of earth reinforced with the surrounding steel braces. This fix would hold the island until the inside of the cavern could be re-filled, lest they risk the island beginning to sink again.<p>

Arriving back at the tower after Vent had received medical treatment, the team could only collapse onto the large **C**-shaped sofa in the middle of the living room, dropping where they were after the tenuous battle they had all fought. While the majority of the team rested, Terra and Raven leaning against one another after their stamina finally gave out, Vent whispered a few words into Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire's ears before slinking away. With those words passed on, the others went back to sleep, dog-tired from the evening's challenges. Especially Beast Boy who had taken the form of a bloodhound and was snoring into the carpet.

* * *

><p>"So… friends?" Terra asked Raven as they walked down the hallway a few minutes after she had woken up after sleeping for a few hours, finding Raven waiting for her while the others were gone.<p>

"Close enough," Raven returned, a ghost of a smile present on her face. On the inside, a part of her wanted to smack the blond for belittling every feat Vent had performed beforehand so blatantly, but another wanted to thank her for the words she had said. Since getting back from Gotham, she had noticed that Vent had become more reserved with the use of his powers. Almost as though he were afraid that by trying anything big again, that he'd cause his powers to spiral out of control; like a dam breaking from the force of the water behind it. Now however, he seemed to have regained his confidence, and she didn't doubt the brunette would be back in peak form by tomorrow, probably doing all _sorts _of ridiculous yet-somehow-effective feats with his aerokinetic powers.

"Sorry we kinda got off to a rocky start," Terra said making a poor joke to ease the tension.

"Actually, I thought things went pretty well," Raven admitted. "It took me a _year _to stop hating Beast Boy. Constantly anyway," the mage chuckled, the two laughing a bit before the mage turned to the right sharply and entering an open doorway, the mage and geokinetic now within a darkened room.

"Um… Where are we?" she asked as she tried to peer into the dark room before her.

"Your room," Raven replied as she flipped the light switch, Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, and Ventus _–whom was wearing bandages and gauze on the left side of his head- _yelling- "SURPRISE" -, leaving the blond completely flabbergasted as she looked around the room. The walls were painted a reddish orange to show a mountain landscape under a starry night sky, which was colored dark black to purple and lastly blue with actual _lights_ embedded into the walls, all of which were most likely connected to the star-themed switch within arm's length of the bed, which was large, colored yellow, and positioned in the back of the room. Positioned beside it was a cactus, some bookshelves by the walls, as well as a large couch and coffee table facing the window. Off to the side was her own ensuite, though currently a blank slate so she could customize it later on.

"You guys did all this… for me?" Terra asked in surprise. Looking out the window, she saw that her room was facing the bay, meaning she could watch the sun rise and not have to leave her own couch.

"Yeah. Vent told us what you liked and even hired the artists who did up _his _room," Robin explained. While the brunette may not've had the connections _he _did, the brunette's own came in pretty handy sometimes.

"You like it?" the brunette asked a bit nervously as he scratched the uninjured side of his face. While the artists he'd contacted before were pretty laid back, he'd had to pay through the _nose _to get them to drop everything they were doing, _and _hire their friend in electronics at the last minute, to come and complete the room in one straight shot. The glittering star-like lights embedded into the walls cost extra, but for her, his first real friend _-or at least one that was his age-_, the money spent was worth it, despite how it had cleaned him out. Oh well. He could always make more money later. Those Titan-used tissues sold for $12 a pop on the internet and he could always make some quick money off the raving fanboys and fangirls.

"Like it? I _love _it!" the girl cheered with a smile. "Come on, guys! I feel a group hug coming on! Come on, don't be shy!" she said with a wide grin as she spread out her arms, Star immediately taking her up on the offer with Vent following a bit bashfully, unable to refuse anything the girl asked for. Cy encompassed the group with his larger frame a moment later, leaving Beast Boy to try and find an opening that would lead him to Terra, Raven and Robin off to the side simply content to watch since they weren't really into _group hugs_.

"Heh. If you're loving this so far, wait 'til you find out who your _neighbor_ is," Raven said with a bit of a smile as she motioned towards the open doorway, Terra's eyes going to it before she saw the door opposite her own, the name **VENTUS **inlaid into the door showing just whom her room was neighboring. "We thought that since you and Vent were friends first, that you deserved to have a room next to his," Raven said as the blond's eyes widened at the sight. The next moment Raven's eyes widened when Terra burst out of the group hug, nearly mowing Beast Boy over before she was suddenly pulled into a tight hug, their bodies pulled flush against one another causing Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Vent to blush wildly at the sight. Star of course didn't see any reason to be embarrassed since less conservative shows of public affection were common on her home planet.

"Oh Raven, you're the best friend a girl could ever _ask _for!" the blond cheered, completely unaware of how flushed the two's chests mashed up against one another were making the boys present.

"Actually… That was _Beast Boy's _idea," Raven found herself admitting, the blond turning to the green changeling who at the moment was scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Yeah, well…" BB said nervously. "We though that since you helped save our home and all, that you deserved a room next to your best friend," he admitted.

"Beast Boy, you have no idea how much this _means _to me," Terra said practically beaming before she pulled the changeling into his own crushing hug, the blush on his face only magnifying when the girl gave him a peck on the cheek, which caused him to crumple like a wet sock out of her arms.

"Um… Perhaps you went too far," Star said looking at the puddle of green goo on the floor that used to be Beast Boy.

"Eh heh, whoops," Terra said nervously, rubbing the back of her head before she noticed Robin walk up to her.

"We also thought you deserved one of these," he said holding out his hand, a brand spanking-new T-Comm. held out towards her. Freshly polished too.

"So I'm-"

"A Teen Titan," Robin finished, holding his hand out to shake, which the blond happily took. "Glad to have you on the team."

"Aw yeah! Very nice!" Cy smiled.

"Welcome, new Titan!" Star cheered.

"Congratulations, Terra," Raven said shaking the girl's hand. "You earned it."

"All right. There's only one way to commemorate such a mo_mentous _occasion," Cy then beamed. "Waffles!"

"Mmm!"

"Perfect!"

"Can the be non-dairy waffles?" Robin, Starfire, and Beast Boy asked respectively.

"Sounds good. I'll catch up in a minute, okay?" Terra asked, the others leaving before she looked down at the T-Comm., a smile on her face, and almost on the verge of joyful tears. "I don't believe it. They actually trust me."

"Of course we do," Vent said from behind her from the doorway, the blond nearly leaping out of her skin since she thought he'd already left for the kitchen. "So-Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you!" he apologized.

"No-No, it's no big," Terra said nervously as she set her T-Comm. onto her waistband. "Why're you still here. I thought you'd be pretty hungry after that awesome _air _show you pulled down there," she said punching the brunette's arm playfully.

"I am, trust me on that," the brunette chuckled as his stomach growled hungrily against his… stomach. "It's just that I had something I wanted to say to you."

"Oh, what is it?" Terra asked, a light red color forming over her cheeks at the current atmosphere. The two of them… alone in a room together… the others preoccupie- _Girl! Get your head out of the gutter! Vent's too much of a gentleman for that! _the blond berated herself. Of course, she didn't know whether to be happy or upset about that fact.

"Well…" he said nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "After what happened in Gotham, I became… scared, of what my own power could do once spiraled out of control. I thought if I just cut back on using my powers that everything would be fine, but… it didn't feel right. Like I was keeping a part of who I was locked away. If you hadn't said those words to me, we would've lost our home, and I may have never forgiven myself for being so weak. So… thank you. Thank you for giving me my life back," he said as tears of joy flowed down his right eye. The left side of his face was currently bruised, so he couldn't cry properly out of that eye

"Y-You're welcome," the blond said rubbing her arm nervously as the brunette wiped the tears from his face. "Now come on. Let's get some food in you. You look like you're about to collapse," she said dragging him towards the doorway.

"Just don't let Beast Boy get his soy milk or non-dairy waffles anywhere near me. You remember how I get when that stuff hits my system."

"How could I forget. You nearly gave Jian a _heart_ attack with the way you were swinging his katana around," the blond chuckled, the two walking hand in hand and laughing all the way down the hallway.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<br>On note of how Raven, Terra, **_**and **_**Vent had to work together to keep the island from sinking, the reason for his inclusion is simple. Two teenage girls, no matter how powerful, being able to support several **_**thousand **_**cubic tons of rock and _Tower_ on their own seems ridiculous by **_**any **_**stretch of the imagination. With that in mind, Vent was the only other option, and I wanted to elaborate on his feelings towards himself and his control over his powers after what happened in Gotham.**

**As for those of you who've been questioning what will happen to Terra due to Vent's inclusion in her life, well… You'll just have to wait and see. I don't feel like sharing spoilers.**

**P.S.  
><strong>**Try and guess where one of the lines that Terra had spoken to Vent came from. Come on, it'll be fun.**


	26. Tournament of Heroes

**Alright readers, heads up.**

**For those of you who want to contribute to the chapter where Control Freak fights everyone inside the TV Dimension, start doing so soon, because it'll be taking place sometime after the ****Tournament of Heroines**** chapter (despite how that one takes place at the start of Season 3).**

**Basically anything that has appeared on TV, be they TV shows, anime, cartoons, etc. will be noted for tabulation. That doesn't guarantee anything being included, but there's a chance that it will since I'm trying to add some variety to that chapter.**

**With that said, here's the start of the chapter.**

**P.S.  
>To whomever keeps asking me when the next chapter's coming out (and you know who you are): Don't. I look for actual Reviews to see what people think of my story, only for a third of them start with "When" and end with "next chapter come out?" I'm looking for actual <em>intelligent <em>comments, and seeing _over_ a dozen like that... It's very depressing and makes it hard to remain motivated to continue writing this story.**

**Anyway with that said, here's the chapter. Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>"Fire beats Wood," Raven said throwing a card with a flame onto it over a card with a tree on it.<p>

"But Water beats Fire," Cyborg countered.

"Sun dries up Water," Beast Boy cut in.

"Thunderstorm blocks out Sun," Robin cut in.

"But Wind blows away the Thunderstorm," Terra interjected lastly for that round, a grin pulling at her features. At the moment the team was in the living room playing a new TCG that had come out, Clash of the Elements. While it wasn't _uber_ popular like Magic the Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh!, it was one of those things that friends could play together for the heck of it. Starfire herself had laid the Tree card down to overcome Cyborg's Rain card, and as for Vent, well, he was off in the "Danger Room" practicing with a new fighting style. Given the circumstances, the brunette had leant his Clash of the Elements deck to Terra, letting her get to know the team a bit better since the two of them knew one another well enough.

"I'm out," Raven sighed in defeat with raised hands.

"Me too," Beast Boy sulked with ears drooping.

"I wish to… go the fish?" Starfire asked looking at her hand with a wide smile, Raven and Beast Boy looking at her cards from over her shoulders.

"Uh, you want to fold, Starfire," Beast Boy instructed.

"Fold? That is good? I am victorious?" Star asked joyously, the two shaking their heads in response which in turn caused her to sulk.

"Sorry guys, looks like I win this round," Terra said as she was about to sweep up the won cards over to herself.

"Ah-ah-ah, little lady," Cy interrupted as he placed his hands over hers. "How can you win if I've still got one card?" he asked holding up a single card. "Come on, girl, you know you want to play me for it. Winner take all, one last round."

"Sorry, but Vent loaned me his deck in confidence, and I'm not risking you pulling out some one-in-a-million _joker _card and losing _his_," Terra huffed with a small glare, Cy flinching at having been caught so easily.

"We're just going to scramble up the majority of the cards before re-distributing them anyway," Raven interjected. The next moment there was a sudden white flash of light, Robin and Beast Boy disappearing from her left side.

"Huh?" Cy asked in confusion as he looked around, only to disappear in a white flash as well, the card that was in his hand sliding down onto the table, revealing it to be the one-in-a-million Meteor card.

"This part of the game?" Starfire asked.

"Uh…" Raven returned shrugging her shoulders.

"So… Does that mean Iwin?" Terra asked bashfully, rubbing the back of her head.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere somewhere in the universe, multiverse, alternate reality, or somewhere inbetween, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Ventus <em>-wearing only gray sweats and blue sandals with a bokken in his hands<em>- suddenly appear within a large atrium-like room, the starry night sky vivible through an oddly-shaped hole in the roof, the upper part of the room divided into eight segments by spires that met in the center at a large golden disk at the top. Further down there was a circular balcony with groups of six windows divided into two facing out into outer space as well, below that being three doors between each spire, totaling twenty four in a massive atrium-like room. All in all it looked like some grand hall mixed between the modern-day contemporary and past medieval style.

Another flash suddenly ripped through the room, an equally-confused Aqualad, Gizmo, and four other teenage males appearing. One had short red-blond hair, a domino mask like Robin's, a sleeveless red tunic marked with an **S** over his heart, matching wrist guards and pants, a yellow belt on his waist, quiver on his back, and boots with platformed heels on his feet. The next wore a black outfit trimmed with red, his skin appearing to be transparent with his body filled with fire. The last was very tall, muscular, and broad-shouldered, his head resembling that of a wildabeast with a thick black mane going down his neck, with armor visible beneath his outer garments; he wore a sleeveless dark blue tunic and pants with a plated silver guard around his head, neck, and waist, his feet covered in armored boots. The fourth figure was a lanky teen, his frame built more for speed than anything else; His attire consisted of a red and yellow jumpsuit, yellow covering the upper part of his body and face exposing the lower half of his face, light blue eyes, and his swept-back red hair with red lightning bolt emblems on the sides, a red lightning bolt emblazoned across his chest, red covering his hips and legs, his boots yellow, forearm-length red gloves.

Beyond that, yet another flash ripped through the room, a just-as-equally confused Static and Gear, along with two additional figures with them. The first was a tall semi-muscular teen, though his human identity could not be deduced because he was covered head-to-toe in black spandex with a metallic sheen, insectoid shin guards on his shins and feet, light blue spots on his thighs, his upper chest and shoulders covered in blue armor, as was his jawline, the top of his head, and the angular crests around his red-lensed yellow-pupiled eyes, what looked like a blue kuwagata beetle latched onto his back with two legs wrapping around his sides while the last two held onto him above his shoulders. The last figure had black hair, his left eye red while his right was blue, his built thin but muscular' his attire consisted of biker shorts, a blue medical gown, his feet bare, and oddly enough a straightjacket worn backwards with a few of the clasps around his neck holding the garment in place.

"Welcome, champions all!" a booming male voice suddenly said, startling the fourteen gathered male heroes, their eyes going to a dais that was at least fifty feet tall, steps running up to it. The figure was humanoid and powerfully built, gold bands on his biceps, wrists, and shins, as well as a pleated black and bronze loincloth-like garment similar to that worn by Roman soldiers held in place by a golden belt. The chest and face were gray, while the arms and legs were white, black short stubble atop his head, his ears coming out into points, with eyes yellow and irises crimson like Ventus' own. Around his neck was an octagonally-shaped ruby held in place by a simple black band. "I am the Master of Games, and you are hereby invited to compete in the Tournament of Heroes! The Tournament of Heroes, a friendly competition between the world's greatest young champions," he announced as the jewel around his neck glowed white, the radiance filling the room before the team was placed in what looked like a jumbo screen.

"Robin - the combat-equipped, kung-fu-trained one-man army," he announced as a clip of Robin backflipping across a building with the Jump City skyline appeared, the spiky haired teen throwing a couple of disks towards the viewers, which exploded before he launched himself through the smoke and aimed a kick at the camera.

"Hot Spot – a human flamethrower with a fiery temper to match," he announced as a clip of the fire-filled teen appeared, the pyromancer releasing a barrage of fireballs towards the camera.

"Cyborg – the high-tech teen fighting machine," he announced as Cyborg's arm appeared on the screen before it transformed into his sonic cannon, which he fired at the camera before leaping at the lens and throwing a fierce punch.

"Aqualad – a water-breathing telepath with mastery over surf and sea," he announced as a clip of Aqualad using his telepathy to summon a pair of whales displayed on the screen.

"Wildebeest – four hundred pounds of primal heroic fury," he announced as the wildabeast-like hero appeared on the screen, lifting a car over his head on a city street before throwing it.

"Gizmo – the nasty little boy, with the really big brain," he announced as a clip of Gizmo leaping down with his spider legs extended showed, a pair of laser blasters extending from his belt before firing.

"Beast Boy – a quick-witted changeling who can turn into any animal," he announced as Beast Boy transformed into a fierce-looking tiger before lunging at the screen.

"Speedy – the agile archer with an unstoppable arsenal of energy arrows," he announced as a clip of the Robin look-alike blowing the head off a giant robot terrorizing the rainforest appeared on the screen.

"Static – the human third rail with the power of an electric transformer at his fingertips," he announced, a clip showing Static blasting bad guys with his electromagnetic powers while flying on his Static Saucer, launching what appeared to be a static grenade at the camera before it changed perspectives.

"Gear – his brain trumps his opponent's brawn every time," he announced as a clip of gear facing off against a massive hulking meta-human appeared on screen, the lanky teen throwing a grenade-like weapon that quickly wrapped the approaching creature up with metal tendrils before dropping it to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Kid Flash – the teen faster than a speeding bullet and more agile than greased lightning," he announced, a clip of Kid Flash outracing bullets and weaving about a room almost too fast for the eye to track playing.

"Blue Beetle - the alien-powered teen with a legacy he can and _will _surpass," he said as a clip featuring the blue and back beetle-themed teen appeared, his forearms turning into massive blue-armored blasters as he shot at several off-screen enemies.

"Crazy - the lucky teen who doesn't suffer from insanity, but enjoys every _second _of it," he announced as the backwards-straightjacket-wearing teen with heterochromatic eyes was shown escaping from what was clearly a mad house with a wide grin pulling across his face, threatening to rip the collection of muscles in half across his skull. Tucked under his arms for some reason were a watermelon, firecrackers, and a bottle of chocolate syrup.

"And Ventus - the tortured teen with a grim past, but a bright future," he announced, a clip of the brunette generating a silver cyclone around himself, which parted in front of him at the end of said clip. The next moment there was another flash of light, the teens finding themselves back in the atrium-like room and facing the Master of Games (Master of Games) once more.

"Fourteen brave and worthy champions, but only _one _shall win," he finished.

"So…" Beast Boy said with big soulful eyes. "Does the winner get some kind of really cool prize, like… maybe… oh, I don't know… a moped?" he asked, thoughts of him in France with a thin moustache, red beret, a black and white striped shirt, and a baguette under his arm zipping back and forth on a motor scooter while wooing a horde of love struck women appeared in his mind's eye.

"I have no moped, shape-shifter," the Master of Games answered causing Beast Boy to deflate considerably. "But rest assured. When the Tournament is complete, there will be mag_nificent _prizes. And, of course, the winner shall prove that he is the greatest young hero on Earth. However, any who do not wish to compete need only say the word, and I shall return you home at once," he said reassuringly, the jewel around his neck glowing.

"Um… Master of Games, sir," Vent said getting his attention while trying to be polite about it, hoping not to accidentally offend the guy and get his head inflated to the size of a beach ball. Potentially-speaking.

"Yes, hero Ventus?" the otherworldly being asked.

"Um, I was kinda in my training clothes when you pulled me in, as you can _plainly _see by my current attire," he said motioning to the sweats he was wearing. "Would it be possible for me to change into a more… battle-appropriate attire?"

"It is not outside my power to do so," the Master of Games stated. "Simply picture the outfit you wish to have in your mind, and it shall be given."

"So wait, I can just imagine myself up a costume, and you'll give it to me?" he asked, Master of Games nodding in return. "Well… Alright then. Hmmm…" he said thinking, the Master of Games's amulet seeming to respond to the brunette's thoughts his clothes began glowing. The next moment there was a flash; when it cleared he was in an entirely different outfit than the sweats he had on before. He wore straw-braided sandals on his feet, blue pleated hakama that stopped just above his ankles, an off-white martial arts gi, and a billowing green scarf around his neck that went past his waist wrapped loosely around his neck. Mussing up his hair a bit and wooden bokken at his side, he then looked exactly like-

"Yoichi from Asu no Yoichi?" Speedy asked out of nowhere.

"You watch anime too?" Beast Boy asked surprised.

"Doesn't everyone?" the Robin-lookalike asked in return.

"Now that the detail of hero Ventus' attire has been finalized, you need only discuss who will compete amongst yourselves," the Master of Games announced, the gathered tens grouping together and entering a quick sotto-vice discussion on the offer, Robin stepping forward once everyone was in agreement.

"Looks like we're in – all of us," Robin announced.

"The challenge is accepted. The Tournament begins! Prepare for competition!" the Master of Games announced as his jewel glowed at the end of the line, followed by a huge white flash that whisked him away from the area, leaving the gathered teen heroes to converse amongst themselves.

"Aquadude! What's up?" Beast Boy asked thumping the Atlantian's arm. "Ready to watch me claim all those prizes?"

"No," Aqualad replied dryly with a little snort. "But, after I win, I promise to let you have my autograph."

"Hey, what's _he _doing here? He's no hero! I _thought _this was a Tournament of-"

"What's the matter, Robo-Wimp?" Gizmo sneered and cutting Cyborg off. "Afraid I'll kick your stinking can?"

"Just try it!" Cy growled, red laser beams striking between their faces as opposed to bolts of lightning. Elsewhere, the teen hero known as Hotspot sniffed the air disgustingly.

"What's that sme-" he asked before he found Wildebeest glaring down at him. "Oh," he chucling nervously, but a menacing short cut him off, causing the flame-filled teen to sweatdrop.

"Speedy. I've heard you're good- real good," Robin said shaking Speedy's hand.

"Robin. Likewise. Great to finally meet you," Speedy said returning the sentiment.

"So, what are those arrows made of?" he asked pointing at the quiver.

"Polarized matrices of high-energy electrons," he said pulling one out, which Robin gazed at eagerly.

"Right. Same technology that packs the punch in my electric discs," Robin said pulling out one of his. "How do you overcome the quantum-entanglement problem?"

"Static! Gear! How's it going guys?" Vent asked coming up to the two.

"Vent, how's it hangin'?" Static asked as both he and Gear bumped fists with the pseudo-cosplaying brunette.

"Things are good. I'm back in my own house, and things are starting to get back to normal," the brunette said before facing Richie. "Oh, _Gear_, we got that icebox built. Works like a charm."

"Sweet. I was also able to adapt the tech in your T-Comm.s and apply them to our Shock Boxes," Gear said pulling out what looked like a metal walkie-talkie with yellow and black hazard stripes across the top plate, which he flipped back to reveal a rectangular screen and a few buttons underneath. "Live video chatting works like a dream, and _plus_, it's completely hack-proof."

"Cool," the brunette returned before facing the teen heroes known as Blue Beetle and Kid Flash. "Hey guys, come on over here. Don't be shy," he said motioning them over, the two shrugging their shoulders before walking over. "Kid Flash, your outfit bears striking similarities to _another _superhero out there. The two of you related?"

"I neither accept nor deny those claims," the red-head said in a cocky tone.

"Didn't hear a _no_," he said before facing the Blue Beetle. "So what's your story?" he asked. Looking at him upclose, the black part of his suit wasn't a jumpsuit at all, but an efficiently-segmented suit of armor designed to conform to his every movement.

"Me? Oh, nothing fancy. Just found this little guy here in an abandoned lot and _bam_, instant superhero for the next generation," he said with a smirk and crossed arms after motioning to the beetle-like construct on his back.

"Is that thing onyour back secretly plotting world-domination or something?" the black-haired teen known as Crazy suddenly asked from behind the Blue Beetle as he tapped the construct on the teen's back, causing him to screech since last he checked, the resident mental patient was on the _other_ side of the room.

"Dude! How'd you do that?" the armored hero demanded.

"Simple. I walked," Crazy replied with an ear-to-ear grin, eerily similar to the one from the clip where he was escaping from the mad house.

"Static! Long time no see!" Robin called out after geeking out over how his lookalike overcame the quantum-entanglement problem.

"Yo! Robin! It's been _ages_," Static said high fiving Robin. "See you've changed your costume and your hair though. You look more like-"

"A teenager?" Robin cut in.

"Yeah, what you said," Static returned. "Still, no offense intended, but you're still as short as ever," he said patting the spiky-haired teen on the head. While he himself had grown a few inches over the past year, Robin was still as short as he remembered. The teen _looked _like he was about to protest his "vertically challenged status", but a familiar voice cut him off before he could.

"Champions! Round one! Face your opponents!" the Master of Games said from all around before a flash of light ripped through the air, the collective of teens being whisked away to different arenas. Be they different worlds, times, or places, they did not know, but then again, they didn't really _need _to know.

"Cyborg versus Crazy!"

"Kid Flash versus Gizmo!"

"Robin versus Gear!"

"Aqualad versus Speedy!"

"Wildebeest versus Blue Beetle!"

"Beast Boy versus Static!"

"Ventus versus Hotspot!"

"Let the contest… begin!" he announced as the fourteen heroes were scattered in pairs.

* * *

><p><strong>Cyborg vs Crazy<strong>

**FIGHT!**

_This guy looks kinda familiar_, Cy thought to himself as he faced his opponent, who at the moment was smiling in an all-too-familiar grin. They were standing across the deck from him on what looked like a Spanish Galleon, however, the purple alien skyline and pair of cyan moons said otherwise.

"Avast ye scurvy dog. Aiaiaiaiaiaiaiaia!" Crazy cackled as he suddenly withdrew a scimitar from a nearby barrel before lunging at Cyborg like a maniac, the cyborg extending an inactive chainsaw from his left arm and batting away the bladed weapon a few times before bringing his right fist towards the insane teen. "Alley-oop!" he called out as he vaulted over the teen's forearm and dismounted behind him, running into the ship's interior with Cyborg in hot pursuit.

"Yo, have we _met _before, 'cause you seem really familiar," Cy said stepping below deck, his shoulder-light on as he swapped his ocular implant to infrared, his synthetic eye scanning the darkness before he tracked two heat signatures off to the side. Wait, two?

"Hey Cyborg! Look at this cool candle!" he said holding up a red cylinder with a rapidly-burning wick. "Dee-na-mee-tay. Must be Italian," he said pointing at the writing on the side.

"That's not a candle! That's-"

_**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!- **_went the interior of the ship, the two teens flying up through the grate before landing on opposite sides of the deck above, Cyborg rubbing the aching side of his face. At the same time his artificial eye was comparing the face of his opponent to everyone he'd seen before it suddenly dawned on him.

"Yo! You're that _Insanity _guy from HIVE!" he cried out in shock as the facial-recognition software he'd been running had finally found a match. It took a while because all he could get on the guy was his big toothy smile, but that coupled with the facial structure and vocal patterns and he eventually got the match. As to why he was _here _was anyone's guess.

"Yeah. But don't _tell _anyone," he said looking around. "It's a _secret_," he whispered the last word with emphasis.

"Riiight…" Cy said before whipping out his new shoulder-mounted missiles and fired them at the clearly-insane teen, only for him to lean around them like the Matrix. "Aw _come_ on!" he cried as he fired his sonic cannon at the teen again, nearly catching him in mid-stride had he not tripped on absolutely_ nothing_, the beam of concentrated sound waves sailing harmlessly above his head before he broke out into a sprint, rubbing his sore face. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me," Cy grumbled to himself as he followed the psychotic teen to the bow of the ship, coming to the sight of him tying one end of the rope around the backside of a cannon, holding onto the other end of the rope which was looped over the halyard.

"Look. Another candle," Crazy said lighting another stick of "Dee-na-mee-tay" and using it to light the wick.

"You're in_sane_!" Cyborg cried as the wick whittled itself down.

"Thank goodness for that because if I wasn't this would probably never _work_. Kya hahahahahahaha!" Crazy cackled as the cannon fired its cannonball, the cannon jerking back and causing the rope overhead to yank him high into the air. It was at this moment that Cy saw that the cannon had blasted the mast straight down the middle, the wood groaning as it dropped straight down and impaling the ship, causing the deck boards to groan in protest before the ship began to split, Cy running towards the bow as fast as his legs could carry him as the ship began to break all around him. "YAAAAAHOOOOOOO!" a crazed voice suddenly cried from above, the cyborg hazarding a look over his shoulder to see his opponent riding the mast and swinging a cowboy hat around like he was at the rodeo, all the while steering the mast towards-

_**-WHOOOOM-**_

-him, the teen groaning in protest before his head rolled back.

"Winner… Crazy!" the Master of Games announced as a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the cyborg, whisking him away to parts unknown.

* * *

><p><strong>Robin vs Gear<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Just because your Static's friend doesn't mean I'll take it easy on you," Robin said brandishing his bo staff in preparation for the fight.

"Same here," Gear returned as he began juggling a couple Zap Caps in his hands, the polished metal glinting beneath the light of a shining blue comet in the sky. At the moment the two of them were on what looked like a gyrating ring-world in the middle of space, said comet providing the only source of light, which was magnified against the polished building-sides around them. "So bring it Boy Wonder!" he shouted throwing a zap cap at Robin while he himself shot off into one of the building's balconies, Robin's gut feeling telling him to throw his arms in front of his face as he backpedaled, which served true as the thing suddenly detonated in a giant flash, and would've blinded him had he not clamped his eyes shut. Looking around, he tried to spot his white and green-clad opponent among the buildings abound, the sound of footsteps behind prompting him to bring out a birdarang before he chucked it over his shoulder, a startled yelp meeting his ears as Gear narrowly dodged his projectile.

"Gotcha," Robin smirked as he fired off his grappling hook into where he heard the yelp, the area's reduced gravity accelerating him through the open air faster than Earth-based gravity would allow. Spotting his opponent, he rebounded off the wall before flying into a kung-fu kick to his opponent's face, the taller teen sent tumbling through the air for a few seconds before he reoriented himself, only to fly off in one direction with his rocket-powered skates. In response, Robin leapt after his opponent, kicking off the walls as he followed not too far behind. Firing his grappling hook when his opponent ascended to one of the higher platforms, he dismounted to meet his opponent on what looked like a large landing pad, his opponent taking up a fighting stance. However, given that Gear appeared to have no formal martial arts training, Robin couldn't help but feel a little overconfident. "So, you decided to stop running, eh?"

"Hey, no time like the present," Gear said off-handedly, waving his hand in a 'bring it' manner seen in every kung-fu movie ever. Narrowing his eyes at his opponent, the Boy Wonder ran at his opponent with a pair of billy clubs in hand as he lunged at his opponent. "Backpack, now!" Gear shouted after chucking another Zap Cap at him, leaning forward and allowing the mechanical contraption on his back to leap at him like a giant mechanical _flea_, the Boy Wonder deflecting the Zap Cap back at Gear while the mechanical contraption known as Backpack pinned him to the ground with a loud _**-CLANG-**_, its pointed feet digging into the metal landing pad beneath it, pinning Robin while his opponent became wrapped up in the metal tendrils of his own restraining device.

"Tch. Should've seen that coming," Robin said as he arched his back, trying to get out from underneath the mechanical device pinning him to the ground, whereas Gear struggled on his own, slowly loosening the coils around him systematically. Made sense that the guy who created the device would have a way of getting out of it if turned against him. Seeing how things were playing out, Gear more likely to get out of his bonds before _him_, Robin flicked his wrist and brought out a birdarang before chucking it at his opponent, who with a yelp ducked under it and nearly losing his balance, the weapon sailing harmlessly past him after he let himself drop onto his ass.

"Ha! Missed!" Gear said getting out of his bonds a few seconds before Robin would have, only for the thrown birdarang to sail back through the air and nail him in the left temple, cracking his helmet and dropping him onto his right side, the Boy Wonder freeing himself from beneath Backpack's pointed metal feet, ripping a quartet of holes in the landing pad before he chucked the backpack-like device away, an eyebrow raising in surprise when the thing twisted itself in mid-air before landing on its feet like a cat. Bringing his billy clubs together into a bo staff, Robin lunged at the now-recovered gear and threw him to the ground. "AAAAAAH!" Gear cried as the end of the spiky-haired teen's staff headed for his visor intent on cracking his head open, only to stop an inch away.

"Do you surrender, or do I have to smack you around a bit more?" Robin asked with a smug grin, the blond-haired teen looking around before sighing in defeat.

"Fine. I give. I'm not exactly combat _practiced_," the teen sighed.

"Winner… Robin!" the Master of Games announced, a bolt of lightning striking Gear and plucking him away from the spiky-haired teen.

* * *

><p><strong>Kid Flash vs Gizmo<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Aren't you a little _young _to be in this line of work?" Kid Flash asked the diminutive teen jokingly as the two strafed around one another, Kid lacing his fingers behind his head while Gizmo strafed his opponent in a brisk _jog_. Having such short legs was a real _bitch_ in its own way.

"I'll have you know I'm fifteen you jack-muncher!" Gizmo growled before he tapped a button on one of his controllers, four spider legs folding out of his pack and lifting him into the air. "Eat lasers!" he shouted as two laser cannons began firing laser disks at the kid, only for him to disappear in a yellow-and-red blur and appear on the other side of the platform they were on. As far as the eye could see there were flat circle-shaped metal platforms seemingly floating around by their own power, varying in size and distance from one another.

"Show me your moves," Kid taunted… _tauntingly_, having stopped on the opposite side of the platform Gizmo was on, the teen whirling around and firing more lasers, only for his wily opponent to zip around the platform they were on before running straight beneath Gizmo, leaping to the next platform using his momentum before sitting on his haunches and yawning. "Come on kid. You're gonna have to do better than _that _if you wanna win that prize."

"I haven't even started yet!" Gizmo yelled before he leapt into the air, his spider legs retracting with bat wings folding out in their place before he rocketed off at Kid Flash, the teen still sitting on his haunches before he disappeared at the last moment. "What the? Where'd he go?" he asked as he flew around, finding no trace of his opponent. "Really, how hard it is to find a guy in bright yellow and red spandex?"

"Hi there," Kid suddenly said over Gizmo's shoulder. "Mind if I borrow this?" he said patting at his opponent's chest before pulling a controller off the retractable cord.

"Not agAAAAAIN!" the tiny terror cried as the control of his flight path was suddenly wrenched away from him, the two flying wildly in circles and death-defying maneuvers, the mechanically-inclined teen trying to reach over his shoulder and regain control, only to suddenly be pulled back and be launched straight upwards, the teen screaming when they suddenly pulled a 180, their flight path taking them straight to the ground.

"Come on squirt. Let's see who screams first," Kid Flash said as he lead them straight down into one of the floating platforms.

"Aaah! Aaaah! Aaaah! Aaaaa! AAAAAAH!" Gizmo cried as they neared the metal disk, only for Kid Flash to pull up at the last second and save them from becoming a greasy smear. "Oh thank goodness," Gizmo sighed in relief.

"Don't thank me yet. I don't plan on losing to a squirt like you," Kid Flash returned before grabbing the roots of his opponent's wings and crouching with his feet on his opponent's back, suddenly pushing off and pulling Gizmo's wings straight up, his body held parallel as the next platform they were flying towards cut through Gizmo's wings, the little teen flailing his limbs wildly as he tumbled through the air, whereas Kid Flash skidded to a stop as he peered over the edge, his opponent heading towards the abyss below before a bolt of lightning suddenly struck him, whisking him away before a booming voice shouted-

"Winner… Kid Flash!"

* * *

><p><strong>Aqualad vs Speedy<strong>

**FIGHT!**

Speedy and his opponent found themselves over a large expanse of water, a large number of circular stone platforms rising out and forming a ring, which he and his opponent stood on the opposite ends of. At the earliest opportunity, Aqualad dove into his element, swimming towards his opponent before Speedy drew an arrow from his quiver and let it fly, the projectile exploding in the water which Aqualad dodged, only to have to swerve around a hail of likewise projectiles that came at him. When it became apparent that his initial barrage wouldn't work, Speedy ran in the opposite direction from his opponent, leaping from one platform to the next, Aqualad slinking around each one in a winding pattern in case his opponent tried firing at him over his shoulder.

After a minute Aqualad was almost on top of his opponent who turned to face him with an arrow ready. However before the Atlantian could drag his opponent into the water, or the archer take a shot at his opponent, the stone platform Speedy was standing on as well as all the other shuddered before they ascended, Aqualad getting a face-full of stone pillar, whereas the archer got the high ground. Sighing and thinking himself safe for the moment, he was caught by surprise when his opponent suddenly rose up in a pillar of water that shot up right next to him, his opponent's silhouette visible within the pillar of water before Aqualad lunged out at him and grabbed the sides of his face, twin torrents of water snaking their way around his arms before they accumulated themselves around the archer's face. While Aqualad's intent was to make his opponent yield, due to the fact that fighting out of water wasn't really his forte, he was however caught by surprise when his flailing opponent grabbed a blue-head arrow from his quiver before stabbing it into the rising pillar of water, Aqualad suddenly letting go as ice creeped up from the impact point before he found himself frozen solid. He _was _after all drenched in water.

"Winner… Speedy!" the Master of Games announced as the archer took a greedy breath of air, tapping at his opponent to ensure he was okay only for his opponent to disappear in a white flash of light.

* * *

><p><strong>Wildabeast vs Blue Beetle<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"No hard feelings if you lose, alright?" Blue Beetle asked his much larger opponent, only to get a stubborn grunt in return. At the moment they were in the middle of an abandoned, war-torn city district, the green alien sky showing them they weren't on Earth. "Not one for words? That's cool. I prefer letting my actions talk for me anyway," the black-and-blue-armored teen said holding his arms forward, chitnous insect-themed blasters forming over his forearms before he took aim at his opponent, Wildebeest's instincts taking over as he stomped to his immediate left, a hail of basketball-sized energy bullets peppering the ground he stood at a moment before, the humanoid ungulate smashing through what appeared to be the entrance to a shopping mall, Blue Beetle following behind as to not lose sight of him. The alien language on the signs abound showed they definitely weren't in _Kansas_ anymore. Looking around, he found no trace of his opponent, which confounded him. "Now _how _could something as big as a semi just _disappear_?" he asked himself, the beetle-like construct on his back suddenly beeping at him. "What is it, boy?" he asked looking over his shoulder, the spinally-grafted artificial intelligence beeping and clicking at him once more, the armored teen nodding his head slowly before he whirled around and blasted the planter directly behind him, the hulking form of Wildebeest soaring into the air away from the blast before landing behind him with a heavy _**-THUD-**_, the armored teen whirling around for another blast, only to find himself on the receiving end of a brutal _mule _kick that sent him sailing through the alien trees in the planter, crashing through a kiosk, and coming to rest face-first in a fountain featuring humanoid fish people. "Okay. Maybe I bit off a little more than I could chew here," he admitted to himself as he rubbed his throbbing head, the device on his back beeping incessantly at him a moment later. "Alright, I _know _I messed up. Stop _beeping _at me already," he growled to the chattering device grafted to his spine.

"Graah!" Wildebeest growled as he plowed through the planter and kiosk as though they were made of paper mache, lowering his head before lunging towards Blue Beetle, the armored teen vaulting over his opponent's head before rolling over his opponent's back, breaking off into a sprint before he leapt into the air and began flying around on a pair of black-and-blue glass-like mechanical dragonfly wings.

"Float like a butterfly~" Blue Beetle said as his forearm cannons folded back into his body, light blue pads appearing on his fingertips. "Sting like a bee~" he said as light blue lasers energy bolts from his fingertips at his opponent, who rushed around to outrace each one. "While I'm up here, you can't catch-" he was about to finish in a sing-song tone, only to get caught head-on by a flying kiosk, thrown courtesy of his opponent, who huffed with the equivalent to his smile on his bestial face as Blue Beetle dropped out of the sky and fell to the floor with a light _**-crunch-**_. "Okay, maybe I was asking for thAAAT!" he cried when he suddenly found Wildebeest falling towards him, arms spread out before the blue-armored teen was flattened by a massive body slam that shook the alien mall to its foundation. Lifting himself from his opponent, Wildebeest raised an eyebrow when he saw instead of a flattened Blue Beetle, that instead he had landed on what appeared to be a large blue beetle-like _shield_, with four light blue eyes staring back at him. A moment later the shield folded itself back into Blue Beetle's forearms, the teen jumping up at him with a shout of- "Shoryuken!"-, his forearm encased in a rocket-powered gauntlet that struck him in the chin and sent him reeling. "Ye-heah! That was so awesome!" he whooped enthusiastically, his opponent shaking his head as he got back to his feet. "Alright big guy, the kid gloves come off," Blue Beetle as he got into a staunch stance, the suit's musculature increasing fivefold, putting him on more level ground with Wildebeest, large black and blue-plated gauntlets appearing on his forearms and making his hands more proportionate to the rest of his body. "Well… Technically the gloves are back on, but you know what I mean!" he amended when he realized his witty banter was made null by the addition of gloves when he said such gloves were _off_.

The only response from his bestial opponent was to snort before charging at his black-and-blue-clad opponent, the two lunging at one another before engaging in a contest of pure strength. Though Blue Beetle was proportionately smaller than Wildebeest, their strength was still equal in terms of raw power. In weight however, Wildebeest still out_weighed _his opponent, and so Blue Beetle was slowly losing ground as his opponent muscled his way forward. Thinking quickly, Blue Beetle willed the talons on his feet to grow, digging them into the dirt as he fortified his position, only to fail when his opponent began head butting him repetitively, the smaller hero's grip interlocked with his opponents and his head began to spin under the onslaught.

"Why does this keep happening!-?" Blue Beetle cried to himself. His next sentence was cut off when Wildebeest head butted him again, the humanoid teen human faltering as his opponent let him stumble back, his bulk-up cutting down leaving him in his original build. However his moment of reprieve was cut off when his opponent hoisted him into the air above his head, holding him there for a second to snort before dropping him onto his shoulder and slamming his opponent into the ground back-first with a gorilla press slam.

"Winner… Wildebeest!" the Master of Games announced as the Blue Beetle's eyes spun around in his skull, a bright flash of light whisking him out of the foot-deep crater his opponent put him in.

* * *

><p><strong>Beast Boy vs Static<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Dude! You're Static!" Beast Boy gaped at the sight of his opponent. Said opponent had become somewhat world-renowned due to his workings with Batman, Superman, and even the Justice League as a whole over the years on more than one occasion. Suffice to say, he was one of the more famous young heroes, due to the fact that he wasn't even a part of the Justice League yet, but had worked with them frequently.

"Yeah, I know," Static returned as he brought out his collapsed Static Saucer, taking note of his location as he did. The place looked like it was an undisturbed part of the rainforest, and at the moment they were in a large clearing. While this meant there was no metal for him to manipulate, he'd just finished playing the inFAMOUS series, so at the very least he wasn't completely helpless like he would've been before. He only had to be careful not to burn through too much juice, since there wasn't anywhere he could charge himself up if he used too many "moves". 'Course, he _did _carry a couple juice-filled Zap Caps for just that purpose. Thankfully he had a couple on him when the Master of Games pulled him into this game.

"Hey, what's it like working with the Justice-YOW!" Beast Boy was about to ask, only to have to jump away from a concentrated bolt of lightning that left a scorch mark where it hit. "Aaaah!" the changeling cried as he had to leap away from another lightning bolt, Static recreating _Precision, _though to the electrokinetic's woe, using it did not slow down time for a few seconds when he used it. Then again that was a game mechanic with no bearing on _actual _electrokinesis, so he could understand. Changing into a cheetah, Beast Boy began to run around the field as fast as his feline frame would carry him, Static's attacks missing after a while, causing him to give up on that means of attack.

Electromagnetically ascending into the air above the clearing, Static was well aware that his opponent could transform into other animals; Even without reading about the Teen Titans, what _other _power could someone called _Beast Boy _possibly have? His opponent failed to disappoint after diving into the tree line, bursting out of the canopy in the form of an eagle and diving at him with a screech. Waiting until the last possible second, Static released a _Megawatt Hammer _at point-blank range, making the changeling look like he'd stuck a fork in the toaster when he wasn't supposed to, the changeling dropping to the ground with a low -_**plop-**_.

"I guess it's a good thing that Beast Boy is the Teen Titan's equivalent to _Yamcha_," Static noted to himself as he looked at the downed changeling, now back in human form and tongue lolling out the side of his mouth as he twitched occasionally.

"Winner… Static!" the Master of Games announced as he whisked Beast Boy away with, ironically, a bolt of lightning.

* * *

><p><strong>Ventus vs Hotspot<strong>

**FIGHT!**

Rubbing his eyes clear, Vent looked around to see that him and his opponent were in what looked like a twenty foot-diameter drainage pipe suspended below the ocean, currently dry _-the pipe, not the ocean-_. Given the appearance and style that the material was arranged in, they were most likely beneath an alien world. There appeared to be a few circular and rectangular panels along the floor, and since he couldn't see underneath it, it was entirely possible that there were all _sorts _of unsavory surprises stashed down there, given tunnels like the one he was in right now were often used to let people get into places they shouldn't.

"Hey uh, Hotspot was it? Quick question and don't take it the wrong way when I ask, but in the past few months were you approached by a red-headed man named Pyro?" he asked deciding to get such a thing out of the way. "Guy was tall, lanky, talked about world conquest and probably had a scar across his chest."

"No such man has approached me," he stated plainly.

"Alright… You _aren't _the villain type are you?" he asked.

"No. Why?"

"Just making sure a certain problem doesn't get any bigger," he stated. _Pyro may want backups for his world-domination plan, given humans with elemental-manipulation abilities are rare. I have to keep track of who may end up under his flag as much as I can. Justice League is stretched thin as it is, so while I can let them know, it'll most likely fall on me and the others. _The brunette's thoughts were then cut off as Hotspot's arms flared up, the pyrokinetic teen then throwing a gout of flame in his direction. Drawing his bokken and letting his baggy clothes catch the rising wind, he sailed above the attack before he landed on the ground once his opponent's attack ceased. "Third Taichi…" Vent said as he drew his sword back, shaping the wind around it as he prepared to swing. "Falcon!" he cried out as he threw the end of his blade forward, willing the silver blast of wind to take the shape of a falcon in flight, the attack striking Hotspot's chest and sending him backwards when the shaped force of air detonated on impact. _Sweet! It worked! _the brunette cheered to himself. _Of course, I'll probably just stick with the other techniques unless I want to be showYYY! _he cried to himself when his opponent flipped back onto his feet and chucked a fireball at him, sending him running when his opponent began to send more at him. A few seconds later, alarms began to blare through the tunnel, the circular and rectangular panels rising to reveal formally-collapsed walls and pillars of steel that began to obstruct portions of the tunnel, the brunette quickly taking cover behind one of the latter.

Peeking around the corner, the brunette yelped before ducking back behind his pillar just _barely _getting his hair singed by an oncoming fireball. Given, he's faced a pyrokinetic before, but _he _was more focused on control, whereas Hotspot's type of pyrokinesis seemed to prioritize on _power_. Watching the shadows on the floor to track his opponent's movement, given he was lit up like a camp fire, _literally_, he quickly leapt off to the side, flying in a corckscrew as his eyes scanned the entirety of the tunnel around him a few meters in every direction before slamming his back against a wall of steel, a gout of flame narrowly singing his hakama before he gripped his bokken, shaping more wind around it before facing the wall away from his opponent.

"_First Taichi: Hurricane,"_ he muttered to himself as he dragged the wind-bathed piece of wood an inch away from the floor in an upwards motion, sending a Demon Fang-esque wave of air across the ground which ran up the wall, arcing above the ceiling overhead before sailing down the wall behind him, his opponent throwing his arms forward to counter the attack with his own, only for the fang-shaped wave of air to snuff out his flames and throw him into the air, the brunette yanking himself around his wall to capitalize on his opponent's loss of bearing. However, Hotspot was no slouch, as instead of succumbing to his unexpected flight, he quickly turned his momentum into a rotational force, his legs in a split as he spun while his flaming arms acted as a pair of afterburners, creating two horizontal wheels of both feet and flame that whirled towards the brunette. Quickly shaping air around his sword as sweat furrowed at his brow, the brunette raised it above his head before throwing the end to the ground with a shout of- "Seventh Taichi: Whirlwind"-, the implied whirlwind rising up around him and clashing with his opponent's attack, the rushing air drawing the fire from his opponent's arms, his legs beating against the winds before he readied to catch himself in a handstand, only to land flat on his face due to the fact that his flame-arms had been extinguished; the fatal flaw of converting any part of his body into pure flame. Looking up to his opponent who was about to strike him with another wind-enhanced blow, he quickly got to his knees before desperately leaping up into a flaming head butt, hoping to give himself enough time to re-ignite his arms before converting the flame back into flesh and bone. His opponent on the other hand fell onto his back and threw his legs upward, catching Hotspot in the chest and throwing him over his head and into the wall behind him.

"You're better than I have been led to believe," Hotspot said as he rolled onto his side and got to his feet.

"If that came out of your mouth because I happen to be cosplaying, then dick move man. Dick move," the brunette said with narrowed eyes.

"My apologies, I meant no offense," Hotspot returned, sending a rush of power to the remainders of his forearms before reigniting them into twin jets of flame, his arms reforming as he lunged at his opponent, drawing one fist back which he ignited before sending a flaming palm strike to his opponent's chest.

Once again, Vent let his baggy clothes catch the wind and carry him off to the side, _literally _flying by the seat of his pants as he leapt around Hotspot's fireballs, all of which only managed to singe his clothes and stain them black, though no definite hits were made. As Hotspot then released a gout of flame at his opponent, Ventus quickly ran up the side of the wall with a tailwind at his back, pushing up along the peak of the tunnel, and though he attempted to pass the tunnel's arc, his current momentum was not enough, and so he began to fall. However, Ventus quickly reoriented himself before drawing his sword behind him and funneling more wind into it. Seeing this, Hotspot quickly drew back his fist while rings of fire began to converge around it. It was after the brunette fell ten feet that his opponent leapt up at him, his fist flying forward while the brunette threw his weapon forward as well, the two attacks colliding and ushering forth a massive cloud of smoke as a deafening _**-BOOM-**_ cut through the air.

"Winner… Ventus!" the Master of Games announced after the smoke cleared, the brunette standing over his unconscious opponent, who was revealed to be a dark-skinned teen with a near-shaved scalp, before the loser was whisked away in a flash of lightning, the brunette then disappearin in a flash of light.

* * *

><p>In a bright flash of light, the winners from the first round, Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, Wildebeest, Static, Ventus, and oddly enough Crazy, all appeared in the atrium-like arena once more.<p>

"Speedy! All right, you won!" Robin whooped.

"Looks like Gear didn't though," Static said seeing that his _sidekick _was currently missing.

"Well played, young champions. You have survived Round One," the Master of Games announced.

"_Survived_? What happened to the losers?" Robin demanded.

"Yeah. What happened to Beast Boy and Cyborg?" Vent asked noticing neither had advanced either.

"Peace, heroes," the Master of Games chuckled. "_Survived _is merely… an ex_pression_. Beast Boy and the other _lo_sers have returned home safely," he said, causing Robin, Static, and Ventus to nod their heads, though uneasily. "But think _not _of the vanquished, my champions. Now you must rest, for tomorrow you face… Round Two!" he announced as a flash of light took the seven heroes out of the room, leaving only himself, a smile pulling at his face. "Oh, what a _marvelous_ game. No matter who is victorious… _I _win all the prizes," he said as his gem gleamed, muffled and panicked voices crying out from within it.

* * *

><p>"Good luck today. May the best man win," Speedy said the next morning after he and the remaining seven had eaten a breakfast of, well, whatever they asked for really. The Master of Games was surprisingly accommodating. On another note, his statement caused Wildebeest to snort, causing him to rescind his comment. "Sorry. May the best… <em>champion <em>win," he amended, the colossal wildabeast-like… teen, nodding reluctantly.

"I wonder what the _prize _will be," Crazy chuckled to himself.

"You gotta be fast on your feet to win this thing, and no one's faster on their feet than me," Kid Flash said still munching on some turkey bacon. _Pig _bacon was too fatty and made him less aerodynamic if he ate too much of it. While not as good as the genuine article, at least it wasn't half bad either.

"You'll need more than _speed _if you wanna get past _me_," Robin said jabbing a thumb at himself.

"Yo, Static, no hard feelings alright?" Vent asked.

"Right back at'cha," Static returned.

"Greetings, remaining champions," the Master of Games greeted as he appeared on the dais. "Due to the uneven numbers of our remaining fighters, while four of you will be paired up into normal bouts, the remaining three will be placed into a three-way fight to the finish."

"Sounds _fun_," Crazy cackled.

"Yes… _Fun_," the Master of Games said with a grin before his pendant flashed, the seven teens finding themselves squared off against one another once more and in a new variety of locales.

"Robin vs Kid Flash!"

"Crazy vs Speedy!"

"Static vs Wildabeast vs Ventus!"

"Let the contest… begin!"

* * *

><p><strong>Robin vs Kid Flash<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"My uncle told me all about what you and Bats are all about. You don't have superpowers, so you compensate with gadgets. All of which I can outrun _quite _easily," Kid Flash started out with a proud look.

"So you say," Robin responded. Kid Flash wasn't as much gloating as he was simply being a headstrong teenager, something the Boy Wonder caught onto while looking around the field. They appeared to be atop a metallic Mayan-style ruin, one flight of steps descending into the forest from his right, a ruined altar in the center stopping his opponent from a dead-run across the field. Then again he could jump over or go around it, so that was only a minor inconvenience if anything. There were a few patches of moss here and there which could also serve as hindrances.

Reaching into his belt, Robin drew a trio of discs from his pocket, colored yellow, blue, and green, before chucking them at Kid Flash, whom dodged them when they exploded, covered the floor with ice, and released a stunning electrical shockwave in that order. Scowling at how easily his opponent dodged, being used to hitting his targets spot-on with how many hours a day he practiced, Robin then drew a pair of birdarangs before letting them fly, Kid Flash simply ducking under them, then standing there with his hands on his hips as the birdarangs headed for the back of his head on the return trip… and passed right through him.

"What the?" Robin gaped as the two birdarangs returned to his palms.

"Don't forget, I can vibrate my molecules to pass through solid objects, and vice versa," Kid Flash said with a smug grin as he stopped vibrating. "Come on bird boy, just save us both some trouble and give up. I'm going to win that prize."

"If there's anything you should know about _me_, it's that _I _don't give up either," Robin returned, not letting his opponent get to him and cause him to make mistakes. While the Flash himself tended to make witty banter on a near-constant basis as he fought bad guys, it wasn't that he was _purely _overconfident like most people thought. It was that the rapidly-formed quips could be used to great effect to make an opponent cease to think logically, thus making them easier to defeat. If you followed the same logic applied to the time that he accelerated his heartbeat to make it look like he was flat lining to a cardiograph, then it made perfect sense that he could accelerated he neurons in his brain to _think _faster as well.

Apparently, the same applied to _Kid _Flash as well.

Of course, heh, Kid Flash wasn't the _only _one who could make his opponents do something _stupid_.

Bringing out a handful of exploding pellets in each hand, he tossed one handful into the air while letting the other roll across the ground, Kid Flash running around them with ease dodging the plethora of minimized explosions. Robin did this a few times until he was almost out of pellets, backpedaling slightly until his opponent ceased dodging.

"Well, while this has been fun and all, I'm going to aim for that prize now," Kid Flash quipped. _"Whatever it is," _he thought to himself before dashing at Robin from the far side of the temple's peak, Robin readying a bo staff as he stood his ground, Kid Flash charging forward at above-highway-speeds before Robin did something completely unexpected.

He stepped to the side and held his foot out at the last moment like a child, Kid Flash tripping over the extended leg and eyes widening behind his mask as he saw that he was now tumbling towards the stairs.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" _**THUD **_" . . . Owwww…" Kid Flash groaned weakly when he finally got to the bottom of the steps with said _**-THUD-**_, laid out flat on his face like a freshman after a frat party and bruised up pretty well from his… _trip. _Pun somewhat intended.

"Winner… Robin!" the Master of Games announced as a bolt of lightning struck where Kid Flash had landed, a bright flash of light then whisking Robin away as well.

* * *

><p><strong>Crazy vs Speedy<strong>

**FIGHT!**

Looking around, Speedy found himself in a sealed room, the decor reminiscent to an upper-end Japanese inn; Tatami mats on the floor, Shoji screens forming the walls, and thick wooden pillars holding the wide room up, though no real exit was visible. The room was about sixty feet wide, forty long, and twenty high. The light was a bit dim, but not too much so since the paper walls let some light in from the outside. Overall, the place looked like the setting for a tight-quarters battle in some Feudal era-set anime.

"Ooh. Nice floors," Crazy noted as he rubbed the woven Tatami mats, looking up to see Kid Flash readying an arrow at him. "Yow!" he cried as he lifted his hands to block, the Tatami mat deflecting the arrow over his head and into the ceiling, much to the two's surprise. "Ha! Floor shield!" he whooped as he dropped the mat before running off, Speedy firing another arrow, Crazy picking up yet another Tatami mat and shielding himself with it, only for a big scorch mark to be made by the exploding arrow. Stepping back and grabbing another mat, Speedy continued to fire arrows at Crazy, who lifted the Tatami mats to continue deflecting the arrows away from himself, his back meeting the wall after a few minutes. As Speedy notched another arrow, Crazy patted at the ground to grab another mat, only for his hands to meet the unpadded floor beneath. "Eh heh… Ran out of floor," he said nervously before Speedy fired another arrow at him, the psychotic teen being caught up in an arrow-launched net.

"Got you," Speedy said with a satisfied smile as Crazy continued to flail about madly, only to somehow by sheer luck to untangle himself from the net before accidentally chucking it back at him, trapping him in his own net. "Okay, what the hell?-!" he demanded as he watched his opponent to continue flailing about, actually taking a minute to realize he'd gotten out of the net with an-

"Oh. I'm out," he said after finding himself out of his confines.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Speedy grumbled to himself before he grabbed a hidden blade from the heel of his boot and began to cut his way out, his opponent emptying his pockets of all _form _of random stuff, most of which looked like it belonged in a prank shop. Finally cutting himself free, his domino masked eyes widened when a blocky rubber chicken came at him, feeling like a brick hit him across the front of the face as he was sent flying back, his opponent grinning like a crazy person. Which he was.

"Ah, physical comedy. The best remedy for, well, _anything_," Crazy chuckled. "Hey look, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it."

"Now… you're just starting to get on my nerves," Speedy grumbled as he rubbed his sore jaw. Were it not for the rubber packaging, what was most likely the brick inside would've left a pretty big mark. "Alright, you wanna play that way? Let's play," he said notching several arrows before letting them fly, his opponent wailing in fear and spinning around, the arrows somehow missing him.

"Heh. Guess I'm just born _lucky_," Crazy said with a wide grin, Speedy's eyes narrowing as he continued to fire arrows at his opponent, only for the arrows to seemingly dodge _him_.

_Hold on… I remember seeing a scenario like this somewhere before, _Speedy thought back to his leisure time back in Japan during training, a smile forming on his lips a minute later before he notched four more arrows before letting them fly. All of them missed Crazy com_pletely _as he lazily walked forward, the orange-haired teen then bringing out a fifth arrow, the casing bursting when a green boxing glove inflated, and was then sent at the psychotic teen, missing him by a small margin before he rose to full height with a face-splitting grin on his face.

"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss-" _**-WHAM- **_Crazy was cut off as he was suddenly struck with a boxing-glove-arrow from behind, his face smacking into dirt beneath the Tatami mats. "Eh? How'd you do that?"

"Unneroneous. Metal bounces off itself," Speedy said quoting one of the light novels he'd read during training in the far east.

"Metal? But there isn't any metal in-" the psychotic teen said looking around before his eyes landed on the four arrows embedded throughout the room. "Heheh. I see. I may be lucky, but I guess I'm not _that _lucky," he chuckled.

"Yep. Looks like I win this round. Unless you want to go some more," he said priming an explosive arrow, having found a way around his opponent's inexplicable ability to manipulate probability into his favor. Just because the arrows dodged him, didn't mean the _bouncers _would.

"Nah. I'm good," the crazed teen said hopping to his feet and dusting his pants off, a bolt of lightning suddenly striking him before teleporting him away.

"Winner… Speedy!" the Master of Games announced before the winner was whisked back to the atrium.

* * *

><p><strong>Static vs Wildebeest vs Ventus<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"EVERY MAN OR WILDEBEEST FOR HIM_SEEEELF_!" Vent cried as soon as they landed, the startling cry causing everyone to scatter in all directions. The current battlefield was a desert-like field with rock outcroppings jutting up across the landscape, with what appeared to be _Jupiter _floating in the sky several miles away, showing they were possibly on one of Jupiter's moons. As for how it was capable of sustaining a breathable atmosphere for the contestants to breath with… Magical dimension-bending pendants could do _anything _nowadays.

At that time all contestants hid behind their own outcroppings, due to the fact that in a three-way fight, someone _always _ended up having two fighters attack them until the numbers got back to even. As each teen pondered what move to make next, a sudden gale wind that came out of _nowhere _suddenly lifted the layer of dust across the ground into the air, the dust storm blinding Wildebeest while Static lowered his blue-tinted shades to cover his eyes. It was when the dust began to settle that Wildebeest's animal instincts told him something was hunting him, the ungulate looking over his shoulder in time to catch a silhouette lunging at him through the dust.

"Eighth Taichi: Squall!"

_**BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!**_

"Uwoooooh!"

_**THUD**_

"Huh?" Static said as he raised his shades and looking toward the source of the _**-THUD-**_, looking to the side of one of the outcroppings to see Wildebeest laid out on his back, eyes spinning in his head while the silhouette of Ventus disappeared back into the dust storm that came back up. Flying up on his Static Saucer and lowering his shades as he ventured out, he looked around to catch his opponent's moving silhouette moving through the dust, a pair of silver orbs looking at him before being jerked to the side, Static looking over his shoulder in time to see four hundred pounds of wildebeest heading right for him, the electrokinetic teen flying up out of the way before the silhouette of Ventus used Wildebeest as a platform to leap up at him.

"Yoink!" Vent snapped as he plucked the Static Saucer out from beneath the dreadloch'd teen's feet, dropping him to the ground with a startled-

"Uwaaaah!" he cried as he fell to the ground on his back. "Dude, I just got _jacked_," he yelled before a loud _**-snort-**_ came from behind him, the electric teen turning around to see Wildebeest scraping at the ground with his feet before he charged at him. "Yaaah!" Static yelped as he rolled over to the side, not wanting to get flattened. Looking over his shoulder, his jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw the brunette assume a sumo stance in the wake of the four-hundred pounds of "primal heroic fury", resembling a David vs Goliath scenario. To his further shock however, the brunette instead of taking the attack head on leapt atop his opponent's neck grabbing his horns and yanking back on his opponent's head, causing him to rear up like a wild animal before his massive hands slammed into the ground.

"Yeee-hah! Get along little wildebeest!" the brunette whooped as his opponent tried to shake him off, only for the opponent to jerk him around, right towards-

"Watch where you're going crazy-ass!" Static cried out as the brunette nearly flattened him with Wildebeest.

"Sorry! My bad!"

"My bad my _ass_!" Static huffed before charging another Megawatt Hammer and launching it at the stampeding "teen's" rear flank, striking it and causing him to yelp shrilly as his hands went to his scorched pants seat, the brunette taking the opportunity to flip his opponent head-over-heels, rolling away after he wedged his opponent's horns into the ground.

"Heh, you mean _his _ass," Vent quipped as Wildebeest arced his back and forced himself to his feet, shaking the slab of earth that his horns were stuck through off the top of his head before snorting in the two's direction, padding at the ground before he stomped off towards the two faster than his girth would imply before nailing the two with a double lariat, catching them across the chest and sending them both sprawling across the ground. "Hey… Static… How about we call a truce for the next five minutes so we can resolve _this _problem, then start beating the crap out of one _another_?" Vent said tossing his opponent his Static Saucer back.

"Give me a moment to think on it," Static said dryly, Wildebeest stomping his foot onto the ground and sending a rising fissure of stone right towards them, throwing the two into the air, Static orienting himself on his saucer while the brunette kept himself afloat with his baggy clothes. "Moment over. I'm in," he grumbled. Honestly, guys who were as bull-headed as Wildebeest were usually the hardest to deal with.

The two quickly split off into opposite directions, Wildebeest snarling between the two when he realized the three-way fight became a two-against-one, stomping off towards the brunette since he looked the weakest. That one hit was as much an irritant as a bug bite in all honesty, catching him by surprise if nothing else. The two circling around Wildebeest as he awaited one of them to move so he could retaliate, Static charged a _Megawatt Hammer _before chucking it at Wildebeest, who leapt over it and let it fly towards the brunette before he lunged at Static. However, what he wasn't counting on was for the brunette to encase his wooden sword with wind before deflecting the attack back towards Static, the attack barely clipping Wildebeest's underbelly before the dreadloch'd teen punched it back at Wildebeest, hitting him face-first and causing him to convulse as he dropped to the ground.

"Think he's out?" the brunette asked as he walked up to Static, his opponent springing up suddenly and narrowly impaling the brunette on the end of his horn. "Yow-what-the-fuck!" the brunette yelped as he raised his wooden blade before jabbing it between his opponent's eyes, which began spinning around in their sockets before he once more hit the ground. "Okay this is starting to get just ri_diculous_!" the brunette wheezed. "How can we be sure he's down this time?"

The next moment a lightning bolt struck the KO'd Wildebeest, whisking him away from the battlefield leaving only the aerokinetic and electrokinetic.

"That answer your question?" Static asked as he floated back up onto his Static Saucer, getting some distance from his opponent who in turn created a cyclone around himself, lifting his body into the air, the two circling one another.

"Hey Static. Something you should know if you don't know it already," Vent announced across the now-empty battlefield. "Oxygen makes for an excellent electric insulator."

"Why are you telling me…" Static asked before it suddenly dawned on him. "Dude! You tricked me!"

"It was either that or face Wildebeest on my own, and to tell the truth, he's just a _whoooole _lot out of my weight class," the brunette returned plainly.

"Guess you really _were _the apprentice of a supervillain," Static returned as he flexed his fingers, waiting for his opponent to leave an opening.

"_Ex_-apprentice!" the brunette shrieked in return. Honestly, how hard _was _it to add one little prefix to a word when throwing it in a person's face, huh? "Ex! Honestly, how hard is it to remember that?" he asked as he let his bokken drop from his hand before nailing the pommel with his knee, sending it flying like a missile towards Static's feet and once again knocking the saucer out from under them, the teen flailing about as he headed for the ground.

"Shoryuken!" the brunette called out as he nailed his opponent under the chin with a rising wind-powered uppercut, sending him flying through the air before he landed on his back, seeing stars, and not the ones in the sky… Space… You know what I mean.

"Winner… Ventus!" the Master of Games announced as Static was whisked away by a bolt of lightning, the brunette wiped some sweat from his brow, bishounen sparkles glittering through the air before he was whisked away by a flash of light.

* * *

><p>"Well played, young champions. You have survived Round Two, the Semi-Final," the Master of Games announced.<p>

"We going to have to wait another day, or can we start right now?" the brunette said with a smirk.

"While a part of me would like to watch that, you are all tired, and it would not do to have you fight in such a manner," the Master of Games announced. "Please, rest now, rearm yourselves, and tomorrow… the Final Round!" he announced as once more he cast the remaining champions away, a grin pulling at his face as he now looked down at the medallion at his neck. "Gizmo, Gear, Hotspot, Aqualad, Static, Blue Beetle, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Wildabeest," he cackled to himself as he rose up on Gizmo's spider legs which emerged from Gear's Backpack, a ball of fire in his hands swirling before it was extinguished by water and then electrolycyzed by a ball of electricity, his right arm being replaced with Cyborg's own while his left was replaced with Blue Beetle's, the two then being replaced by a powerful pair of gorilla arms, counting off his new collection of powers aside from Kid Flash, Crazy, and Wildebeest. "With these eleven heroes in my grasp, my powers have reached new_ heights_," he cheered to himself as he thought of what Kid Flash, Wildebeest, and maybe Crazy's powers would do when combined with the prior nine. "If I weren't so _refined_, I'd be practically _sal_ivating at the thought of my _next _two prizes," he said as a large smile pulled its way across his face; most likely Crazy's whether he knew it or not.

* * *

><p><strong>Final Round<strong>

**Speedy vs Ventus vs Robin**

**FIGHT! **the Master of Games announced as the next morning, Speedy, Robin, and Ventus all appearing on the final battlefield after a hearty breakfast, the three top contenders for the Champion of Champions title rearing and ready to go. The battlefield they on was in the middle of space over a lifeless gray moon, somewhat resembling Final Destination from Smash Brothers in shape but not composition.

"May the best man win," Ventus offered as he drew his bokken, readying himself into the fictional kata of the Soaring Wing, Divine Wind Style.

"I intend to," Robin returned with a smirk drawing his bo staff.

"Hey, you may've been trained by Batman, but I'm no slouch either," Speedy countered as he notched an arrow. As the three readied themselves, instead of lunging at one another like a pack of wild animals, they instead remained where they were, waiting for either of their opponents to make a mistake they could capitalize on; whoever went down first would determine who fought who in this final bout.

It was when a random piece of rock shattered against the other, that the imaginary starting bell in the three of their heads went of, Robin, Speedy, and Ventus toward the center of the platform with weapons readied. Meeting in the center, Speedy swung his bow at Vent, who lashed out with his sword at Robin, who sent out a kick towards Speedy, a real-life game of rock, paper, scissors sending all involved reeling back when the attacks connected, getting back to their feet as they slid back in the low-gravity environment.

"Should've seen that coming," Speedy said as he rubbed his jaw.

"Me too. Must be getting sloppy without a real fight," Robin said rubbing his side.

"I think we're _all _getting rusty. But I got something to remedy that," the brunette said as he brought out an exploding disk and arrow from behind his back, the two's domino masks widening as to how he managed to get them in the middle of the three-way struggle that only lasted a second. But hey, you don't make the coin to last long in Gotham without fast hands.

Lazily tossing Robin's exploding disc onto the middle of the platform, he then twirled Speedy's arrow in his hand before throwing it like a dart at the disc, the combined explosion of the two sending cracks across the platform, which spread past the three's feet before the entire platform collapsed, the three sent tumbling through space towards the desolate moon below. Robin acted quickly in the desperate fall, bringing out his grappling hook and… hooking it onto a falling stone, pulling himself up onto it, Speedy doing the same with a grappling arrow. Vent on the other hand sky-dived like he'd been doing it his whole life, and given his powers, that was a possibility. Being the first to meet the ground, Vent rolled across the landscape and came to a stop, dusting himself off as Robin and Speedy leapt off the stones they were riding on to avoid a rocky landing, finding themselves in a large crater the size of a football field across.

"Are you fucking in_sane_? You could've killed us all!" Speedy cried out as his hand went to his quiver, making sure the brunette wasn't hiding any more of _his _arrows on him. A sentiment which Robin presumably shared, because he was patting his belt down as well.

"Die? Hah!" the brunette laughed haughtily in return. "We're teenage guys with our whole lives ahead of us! We're _bullet_proof!" he laughed haughtily with his hands on his hips, laughter bellowing across the crater and rebounding off the rising walls, echoing back in all directions and slowly raising the two's ire until the two looked to one another, nodding before readying their projectile weapons. "Wha ha… Hah… Oh boy," the brunette chuckled nervously as he found Speedy readying what appeared to be a trio of heat-seekers, while Robin readied a trio of exploding discs; one freezing and two exploding if the color coding was correct. "Bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh! Ahh!" the brunette cried as he furiously dodged the exploding discs sent at him, barely leaping over the explosions, though the heat-seekers still tailed after him. "This is _so _bad kharma from tricking Static like that!" he cried as he ran, Speedy sending exploding arrows his way trying to trip him up, while Robin sent ice discs at the ground where he was running, only for the brunette to quickly form blades of wind under his feet and skate across the ice, heat-seekers still behind him before he whirled about and stood his ground. "Fifth Taichi: Lull!" he called out as he swung his bokken downwards, a dome of air rising up around him and rebounding the heat-seekers into the air where they exploded.

"No way that guy's human," Speedy gaped at the display.

"Preaching to the choir on that one, buddy," Robin returned. "Oh crap here he comes!" he cried out as the brunette suddenly ran at them, swinging his wooden sword over his head like a fucking maniac.

"AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIYAAAAH!" he cried as he swung at them wildly, his crazed movements impossible to read as he caught both Robin and Speedy on the arms, hips, and chest a few times before they wisened up and split apart, Robin throwing an exploding disk while Speedy launched a like arrow, the brunette flipping sideways in a Zero-G dragon corkscrew as the two projectiles narrowly hit his spinning chest and back, the two's eyes widening before the other's attacks detonated, sending them flying in opposite directions, the brunette landing on his feet and smirking widely. "Booyah!"

"Geez, who _trained _this guy? Deathstroke the _Terminator_?" Speedy grumbled as he notched another exploding arrow, modding the timer so it would explode shorter after firing.

"You don't know the _half_ of it," Robin grumbled as he reached into his belt and ready another exploding disc, only to remember just how well _that _went the last time he tried. However, Speedy didn't seem to get the memo as he launched another trio of heat-seeking arrows at the brunette, who then took off into a sprint before raking his sword across the ground, a wave of wind kicking rocks into their path, causing them to detonate mid-air. With that done, the brunette rushed headlong at Speedy, who backpedaled and steadily fired arrows of different types; exploding, boxing glove, freezing, and net arrows were all dodged by the brunette until the teen's eyes widened, his foot getting caught in a small crater and getting wedged between a pair of rocks stopping his retreat. His opponent, bearing down on him from above, had an arrow directed at him, only for the brunette to corkscrew with his hand darting out, his hand finding home around the arrow's fletching. The brunette landing in a roll behind him, then smirked over his shoulder before throwing his sleeve up, Speedy's brow raising in confusion before his eye went to his quiver, one more arrow than he remembered present, with one _less _in the brunette's _hand_. Eyes widening, he attempted to throw the quiver away from himself, only for it to go off in his face, a chain reaction causing his remaining payload of arrows to go off right in his lap, a massive cloud of smoke rising along with the many pained cries of the archer. A minute later, a bolt of lightning whiskied the archer away signaling it was down to just him and Robin.

"Well now, it's just you and me," the brunette said lowering his sleeve and dusting himself off. Given that heroes rarely carried weapons capable of _killing _people, even if the archer's supply of arrows had all gone off at once, it was at the least _possible _he was okay.

"Yeah… it would seem so," Robin said getting a breather in. "Hey Vent, there's something that's been bugging me for a while, so I'm just going to put it out in the open. Is there a _reason _you use your powers to copy moves from anime and video games? I mean, not that I really have anything a_gainst_ it because when it works out just right it looks pretty cool, but I'm just worried that in the future people won't be able to take you seriously as a hero unless there's a… valid reason for it," Robin asked leveling his bo staff at his opponent.

"Well, since we're friends, I don't see why it would hurt," the brunette admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. "I guess the simplest way to put it is that if my powers were like clay, they'd be easier to shape if I had an image of the end result in my head _beforehand_. Rather than trying to go towards the end result freehanded, I'd have a… _mold_, to work with."

"So it's to help you manipulate your powers then," Robin mused. "Like Starfire and Raven's emotional states with theirs."

"That's about it, yeah," the brunette admitted. "Also, before we have our fight, there's something I want to get out in the open too," the brunette then said, Robin's brow raising at that. "In a way, I can understand why you were angry at me when you found out I was Slade's apprentice, so you don't have to worry about it anymore. I forgive you man."

" . . . Heh, I never thought I'd hear _those _words come out of your moth after I pretty much chased you out of your own town," the spiky-haired teen chuckled.

"Don't get too sappy on me now. Just because I said I under_stand _you doesn't mean I for_give _you," the brunette quipped. "That and I'm not about to hand over that prize, _whatever it is, _to you without a fight."

"Same here!" Robin said twirling his bo staff above his head before rushing at the brunette, who at the same time lunged forward before the two brought their respective weapons together with a loud _**-CRACK-**_, blurs of silver and brown whooshing through the air between them before Robin held his staff out in a block, the brunette stabbing through it with a blast of pressurized air on the end of his weapon before the teen grinned, twirling the broken halves of his staff before holding them out like billy clubs, swinging at the brunette who flipped over his head before blocking the next weapon again, backpedaling as Robin's dual weapons picked and prodded at his defense, trying to find a way in. Taking a deep breath, the brunette's eyes flashing before Robin felt the air around him thin, quickly inhaling as much air as he could and backpedaled before Vent ended up suffocating him, only to be blown back by a violent gust of wind that sent him skidding back, his metal-plated shoes digging trenches in the ground before the gale ceased, the brunette charging at him once more. Whipping out his grappling hook, he quickly launched the end towards the brunette, who blocked the attack with his weapon only for the line to wrap around it, the Boy Wonder giving a firm tug and yanking the weapon out of his hands, causing the brunette to shake his wrist as he cringed, Robin throwing the weapon to the side. "Well then, looks like it's just you and me," he said figuring now it'd be hand-to-hand combat. Since his prior defeats, he'd been training himself in new styles, making himself stronger and faster.

"Actually…" Vent said as his body began to release a thin silver glow. "It's just me," he said with a smirk before he clenched his fist and drove it into the ground in front of him, a wave of air kicking up the dust around them before it was whipped up into a spiraling dust storm, the Boy Wonder bringing his hand up to his face to block the dust from his mask as he looked around for his opponent.

_Tch. Guess I underestimated him a little, _Robin thought, having not thought that his opponent would whip up a dust storm to level the playing field once again. Wondering just why his opponent would pull something like this, his eyes widened behind his forearm as he realized he was going for his wooden sword. Whirling about on his heel, he caught a glowing silhouette moving through the dust storm before it once again disappeared into the dust, the sound of wood being removed from the ground meeting his ears before a blackened figure leapt over his head, body parallel to his own.

"Sixth Taichi…" a familiar voice said from behind, the Boy Wonder looking over his shoulder to see his upside-down opponent having already reared his sword arm back right as the dust began to settle. "Chilling Wind!" he called out as he brought the end of his sword down on Robin's neck, the compressed air around it detonating and sending him whirling across the ground, his head spinning from the force of the attack. If it were any stronger and he were any weaker, it could've easily snapped the Boy Wonder's neck like a dry twig. However, it seemed more directed towards the muscles in his shoulders than his neck, so while it would bruise, it was most likely meant to disorient.

"Jesus _Christ_, are you trying to fucking _kill _me?" Robin shrieked. Just because Vent was his friend didn't mean he wouldn't bitch about it. Of course he'd never use _that _word, but you know what I mean.

"It's meant to incapacitate," the brunette argued.

"Incapacitate my _ass_," he grumbled as he rubbed his aching neck, finding it hard to orient himself with how his head was ringing.

"Don't let your _fangirls _hear you say that. They may take it the wrong way," the brunette chuckled.

"Ugh, don't remind me," Robin groaned, while secretly he was reaching into his utility belt. His hand pulling out a disk, from one of the compartments before he chucked it at the brunette, who raised his bokken to block. When the flash of light cleared, the brunette's sword was covered in ice, as were his hands and forearms.

"I'd ask why you gave me the cold shoulder, but I think I'll leave the crappy banter to _you_," the brunette said as he shook his arms attempting to crack the ice from within. The main reason bad guys always escaped from icy prisons was because they could still generate enough leverage to do so, so for Vent to do so was just a matter of _that_.

"Hey I put a lot of _thought _into that!" Robin growled in return.

"Really? _No matter _how _you do the math, it all adds up to you going _down? That's gotta be one of the cheesiest one-liners I've ever _heard_," the brunette replied back, referring to their first battle against Cinderblock in the Jump City Maximum Security Prison.

"Oh like you could've done better," Robin quipped as he readied his bo staff and swung the end at his opponent who, weighed down by the ice covering his arms, was struck across the side of the face and sent rolling across the ground, rolling to his side before shakily getting to his feet.

"Back then, even _nothing _would've been better than _that_ butchering of the English language," the brunette returned as he flexed his jaw and cracked his neck to the sides, giving his arms another flex before he threw them to the ground, shattering the ice around his arms and freeing himself, though his fingers were a bit numb.

_Don't let him get in your head, don't let him get in your head, don't let him get in your head, _Robin chanted to himself trying not to let his opponent get inside his head.

_Don't let him keep you out of his head, don't let him keep you out of his head, don't let him keep you out of his head, _the brunette chanted to himself as he continued to try and get inside his opponent's head. "Hey Robin!" he called out catching the Boy Wonder's attention from his mental chanting. "Here's mud in your eye!" he shouted as he threw the content of his hands at the Boy Wonder, who raised his arms up to block.

"GYAH!" he cried when a fist-sized rock collided with the space between his legs, his hands cupping his throbbing anatomy as he fell to the ground chin-first. "Dick move man… Dick move…" Robin groaned, knowing he'd never hear the end of it if word ever got out he got knocked down by such a cheap trick.

"Yeah, well, them's the brakes," the brunette said offhandedly. "But hey, no hard feelings, right?" he asked, getting no real reply in return apart from his opponent's groaning before he was whisked away by a bolt of lightning, a flash of light then carrying the brunette off the battlefield as well.

* * *

><p>"Well done, Champion of Champions. Victory is yours," the Master of Games announced as the brunette found himself back in the atrium.<p>

"Yeah. So, I'm supposed to win some kind of _prize_?" he asked sheathing his bokken at his side.

"I did _say _there would be prizes, young champion," the Master of Games said as he descended the dais steps. "However I did _not _say, that they were for _you_."

"What are you implying?" Vent asked with narrowed eyes.

"You may be the winner," the Master of Games said as he kneeled down to eye level with the brunette, holding up his octagonal ruby amulet. "But the _losers_ are mine to keep," he finished as thirteen panicked cries were heard from within the medallion, Vent's eyes widening as the implications suddenly hit him. "And with _all _their powers at my command, _no _one will defeat the Master of Games!" he cackled as he suddenly rose up on Gizmo's spider legs, his right arm becoming Cyborg's while his left formed into a re-sized version of Blue Beetle's, Wildebeest's horns sprouting from his forehead, his face becoming like Hotspot's a second later and Robin's belt forming around his waist over his own. "I am… in_vin_cible!"

_Come on Vent, this guy's got the power to manipulate time and space. He wouldn't be selfish enough to… However if he'd go this far for power, then he just couldn't re_sist _the prospect of_- "Really? And how can you be in_vin_cible if you don't have me? The Champion of Champions? The greatest young hero on Earth?" Vent asked with a cocked head and a taunting half-smile that would've made even _Robin _proud, the statement catching the Master completely flat-footed before he lowered himself to Ventus' level, pacing around him on Gizmo's robotic legs.

"Hmmm… You _are _quite skilled," the Master mused.

"Then maybe, this game isn't over yet," Vent smirked.

"No… No it is _not_!" he agreed.

"What do you say to one last round? Winner take all?" the brunette asked drawing his bokken, the Master of Games smiling as he rose to full height.

"Yes! The fight to end _all _fights!" the Master of Games said as his eyes glowed brightly alongside the amulet. "Ventus versus the Master of Games! Let the contest begin!" he said firing a pair of flaming eyebeams at the brunette, who backpedaled to dodge before leaping out of the way of a rushing jet of water that left cracks in the pillar as it followed him. When the brunette began using the wind to carry him around the room, the Master of Games upped his game and began firing Speedy's arrows, Cy's shoulder-mounted missiles, and Blue Beetle's energy rounds at the brunette, who leapt over Cy's cannon blast, swept away Speedy's arrows with a gust of wind, and spun his bokken like a propeller to stop the blue-colored energy rounds from hitting him, his weapon singed in a few places when the barrage stopped.

"Ha! Is that the beast you can do? I've been on obstacle courses with live _ammo_ tougher than this," the brunette taunted, hoping to make the Master of Games more angry, and more sloppy. This seemed to have worked, because he soon sprouted Blue Beetle's dragonfly wings from his back, leveling Wildebeest's horns at him while jets of fire erupted from his hands and sending him forward, creating a wicked combo that would've flattened the brunette had he not leapt over the raging monster in time. He was about to attack him from behind, however Gear's backpack _-which was connected to Gizmo's spider legs-_ sounded off some kind of alarm, and so the brunette had to abandon his earlier plans when the Master of Games began throwing Robin's birdarangs at him. Dodging three with ease, the fourth one found home in his left shoulder with a wet _**-squelch-**_With a pained grunt he removed it with a powerful tug before he rushed at his opponent with bokken in hand, using it to deflect a wave of water sent at him from his opponent's mouth before the Master of Games retracted Gizmo's spider legs, dropping to the ground before disappearing in a blur of Kid Flash's speed before suddenly appearing behind the brunette, who was able to turn around just in time to catch Static's "taser punch" to the chest. Couple that with Beast Boy's gorilla strength, and he was thrown halfway across the room, tumbling to a rough stop as arcs of electricity leapt across his form, causing him to convulse wildly, unable to move by his own power.

"Looks like you lose," the Master of Games said triumphantly as he stood over the paralyzed brunette's prone form.

"In your dreams," the brunette chuckled before managing to flick his wrist, a blood-tipped birdarang leaving his hand from his sleeve and finding home in the Master of Game's pendant. Though he tried to lean back, the edge of the right wing scraped against it deeply, a bright flash of light releasing both Kid Flash and Beast Boy who dropped beside the brunette.

"Thanks for the save man," KF noted, Beast Boy rubbing the back of his head before an enraged Master of Games released a gout of flame from his mouth at the three and got back onto Gizmo's spider legs, KF grabbing Vent while BB took off to the side as a jackrabbit.

"Hey Kid Flash. Bring me over to Beast Boy, I have an idea," the brunette said from over the red-head's shoulder, Kid Flash nodding as he zipped around the Master of Game's sonic cannon and electric blasts before running over to jackrabbit-BB and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, the brunette holding up an ear and whispering something to him. A moment later the rabbit nodded in recognition before the three disengaged, Beast Boy gaining a confident smirk as he rushed at the Master of Games head-on.

"I may not be able to combine animal traits like I want to, but I can do the next best thing," he said turning into a cheetah mid-stride, rushing at the Master of Games in his form's peak speed of 75 mph before lunging at him, suddenly transforming into a rhino mid-leap and slamming into the Master of Games's chest with the force of a freight train, the pendant flashing brightly as he was forced to release Gear. Before he could retaliate, he saw Kid Flash run up the side of the wall and up to the top of the atrium, kicking off and flying straight towards him with gravity's aid and a gleaming constellation of a winged horse at his back before he yelled-

"Pegasasu Ryuusei Ken!" he shouted as he threw his right fist forward, a flurry of punches breaking the sound barrier eighty-five times in a couple seconds bombarding him, the last strike nailing his pendant with a loud _**-CRACK-**_ before he flipped back, Speedy being released and the backlash causing the Master of Games to stagger before the brunette lunged at him a moment later, sword poised.

"Sonic Thrust!" he called out sending the end of his blade into the Master of Game's pendant once more with another _**-CRACK-**_, this time releasing Robin, leaving him with only Cyborg, Wildabeast, Hotspot, Aqualad, Gizmo, Blue Beetle, Static, and Crazy. "Robin, glad to have you back," the brunette panted as he fell to one knee. "Speedy, you too."

"Thanks for the help. We'll take it from here," Speedy said drawing his bow, the exhausted brunette moving off to the side as Robin, Beast Boy, Speedy, Gear, and Kid Flash got into battle stances against the Master of Games.

"No! This fight was supposed to be between myself and _Ventus_!" the Master of Games roared.

"Tag in!" the brunette cried as he ran by the five with his right arm raised, the team tagging themselves in.

"Looks like we've just been tagged in," Gear said before chucking one of his Zap Caps through the air at the Master of Games, a dozen metal coils wrapping around him and causing the interdimensional being to struggle for a moment before breaking free, which was all Kid Flash needed to zip in and bombard him with a flurry of hand and foot-given blows, tiger-BB rushing in and slashing him across his pendant before releasing Cyborg. As this was going on, Speedy took aim with one of his arrows, a low whirring noise emanating from the cylinder-shaped head as the Master of Games released gouts of flame, torrents of water, laser blasts, and electric shocks haphazardly, jackrabbit-BB and KF zipping around all the attacks with Cyborg blasting him with his sonic cannon. It was when Gear lobbed an exploding zap cap at the Master of Game's abdomen that his amulet bounced up into the air, Speedy's eyes narrowing and the arrowhead colored red before he launched it through the air with a loud _**-thwip-**_, the energy-packed weapon sailing into the mystic artifac with a loud _**-SCHWUNK-**_ and embedding itself there, chaotic energies dancing around it before Robin leapt through the air, his foot driving the projectile full-on into the pendant.

"NOOOOOO!" he cried as a tremendous amount of light poured out from the stone, the interdimensional being crashing helplessly to the floor as the remaining heroes and Gizmo got to their feet, the Master of Games's necklace slowly going out, his ill-gotten powers now lost to him. "I lose," he said simply before disappearing in a flash of light and smoke, his necklace _**-clink-**_ing across the floor before coming to a stop at Robin's feet.

* * *

><p>"As far as I'm concerned, you're all honorary Titans," Robin said passing everyone there who didn't have one their own T-Comm.<p>

"Cool!" Gizmo awed after getting his, only for Cyborg to snatch his out of his hand a moment later.

"Yo, gimme that! You're not a good guy, remember?" he asked with a smug grin,.

"Scrum-buffing toe-jamming gunk-eater," Gizmo muttered.

"Man I'm beat. I don't think I can _take _another tournament like this," Vent huffed tiredly as he tried to fix his hair. Static electricity tended to bring that about.

"With that game guy gone, I don't think we'll have to worry about it," Kid Flash said casually as he spun his T-Comm. on his finger like a basketball. A small, _plastic_ basketball anyway.

"Come on guys, let's warm up the magic stop sign necklace and head home," Crazy said simply, earning varying looks from the rest of the group before Robin simply held up the medallion.

"Well dudes, it's been fun," Beast Boy said stretching.

"And if you ever need us, you know how to reach us," Robin said as the gem began to glow.

"Right back at you," Speedy returned before the fourteen teen heroes disappeared in a bright flash of smoke and lightning, the Master of Game's necklace clattering across the floor before it began to glow by its own power. A few seconds later, twelve more blasts of lightning and smoke appeared, Starfire, Raven, Terra, and nine other young women looking around at their new surroundings.

"Welcome, champions all!" a booming voice echoed from atop the dais. "I am the Master of Games, and you are all hereby invited to compete in the Tournament of Heroines!"

"Raven?"

"Yeah?"

"I have a bad feeling about this," Star muttered worrisomely.

**To be continued…**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>Do not own Magic the Gathering. Do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!. I do not own any additional DC Universe heroes shown. I do not own Samurai Harem: Asu no Yoichi. I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. I do not own Katanagatari. I do not own Saint Seiya. I do not own the Tales of- series.  
>The character Crazy is an OC created for use in this story for me by Gui.<strong>

**Author's Notes:  
>Well, this is my story's version of <strong>**Tournament of Heroes****. I tried keeping it as original as I could, though I kept the fight between Speedy and Aqualad the same for story-telling purposes. Some of you may argue who should've won which fights, but since I'm the one who's written this story in the first place, I decided to the best of my abilities who should win which fights and how. That and it's my story so _nyah_!**

**For the Soaring Wind Divine Wind Style Taichi (the last word I'm assuming means "Technique"), since there wasn't a wiki page for those moves (which by the way, Vent is feesably capable of performing when channeling his powers through a blunted weapon), I had actually had to compile the information myself after watching all the episodes, so the moves should each have done what they were supposed to do. **

**On note of the execution of the Pegasus Meteor Fist (Pegasus Ryuusei Ken) that Kid Flash used, I watched the first episode and it **_**said**_** there were 85 hits in a single second, and that they all exceeded the speed of sound. Kid Flash may not've been able to do it up to that spec, but it was fun to write for. For those of you that may argue about KF watching anime in his off time, like I said before: _Nyah!_**

**Anyway, the ****Tournament of Heroines**** chapter will be similar in structure to the ****Heroes**** iteration, though the content of the chapter itself will be as different as I can make it. Hope you enjoy it. I haven't read any of the other "Tournament of Heroines" fanfiction before, so if the structure is similar to those, then it's purely coincidental.**


	27. Tournament of Heroines

**Last time on ****Teen Titans: One of Four Elements****…**

"_As far as I'm concerned, you're all honorary Titans."_

"_Cool!"_

"_Yo, gimme that! You're not a good guy, remember?" _

"_Scrum-buffing toe-jamming gunk-eater."_

"_Man I'm beat. I don't think I can _take _another tournament like this."_

"_With that game guy gone, I don't think we'll have to worry about it."_

"_Cone on guys, let's warm up the magic stop sign necklace and head home."_

"_Well dudes, it's been fun."_

"_And if you ever need us, you know how to reach us."_

"_Right back at you."_

"_Welcome, champions all! I am the Master of Games, and you are all hereby invited to compete in the Tournament of Heroines!"_

"_Raven?"_

"_Yeah?"_

"_I have a bad feeling about this."_

* * *

><p>Before the gathered fourteen girls could question where they were, there was suddenly a flash of light from the hair-covered humanoid's ruby pendant, the girls recoiling before what looked like a jumbo screen appeared in front of them.<p>

"Starfire – the alien girl whose powers are out of this world," he announced as a clip of Starfire throwing starbolts at enemies approaching from the sides showed, the clip cutting off when she fired her emerald eyebeams at the camera.

"Raven – the quiet mage versed well in the dark arts," he announced as a clip showing Raven rising out of a portal before throwing a set of heavy crates at the camera was shown.

"Terra – the geomancer who commands the stoic earth with a mere thought," he announced as a clip showing the girl crushing a giant scorpion monster with a mountain-sized boulder was shown.

"Jinx – the enchanting sorceress whose powerful hexes mean bad luck for her enemies," he announced as a clip of Jinx running an obstacle course at HIVE Academy was shown, the mage somersaulting while casting hexes on the turrets that were aiming at her, only for them to gun down one another.

"Artemis – the femme-fatale whose aim can't be beat," he announced as a clip of the green-clad archer firing off arrows in rapid succession at a group of jewel thieves and pinning them to the wall was shown.

"Wondergirl – the young Amazon warrior of tremendous power and skill bellying her age," he announced as a clip showing a dark-haired girl with blue eyes wearing a red outfit silver bracelets on her wrists showed, the woman deflecting a hail of bullets with her wristbands before the clip changed.

"She-Bang – a heroic young woman who leaves her male peers in her dust," he announced as a clip of a red and purple-dressed girl with her hair styled in cornrows beating down a group of thugs before her male peers could get there was shown.

"Aqua-Lass – the water-wielding fish-whisperer with a mastery of underwater combat," he announced showing a clip of Aqualad-like girl beating down a dozen whale-hunting poachers wielding harpoon guns before sending out a telepathic message to the whales.

"Supergirl – the girl who puts the _super _in super _heroine_," he announced as a clip Supergirl fighting off a giant robot before she blasted it with her crimson eyebeams was shown.

"Batgirl – the combat-equipped, kung-fu trained one-woman army," he announced as a clip of Batgirl weaving in and out of a criminal's attacks before delivering a fierce uppercut showed, the clip ending on the satisfied smirk that showed on her face.

"Railgun – the sukeban gang leader who does _not _play well with others," he announced as a clip of a fierce-looking red-head knocking a bunch of Japanese punks around by the ends of her fists and feet were shown, the clip ending with her hoisting a man twice her size over her head as she was about to throw him.

"Argent – the exotic energy manipulator with power to spare," he announced with the image of a white-skinned girl wearing black and red manipulated crimson energy from her hands just as the Green Lantern would, only without a ring or other form of medium.

"Pantha – the herculean warrior with strength surpassing _any_ man," he announced as a clip of a yellow-and-black-clad panther-themed herculean woman performing a Kryptonite Krunch/Schwein on an equally large male wrestler who, when he hit the ground, screamed like a little girl, played.

"And Zephyr – the mystic force of nature whose aerokinetic powers are second to none," he announced as a clip of Zephyr generating a silver cyclone around herself, which parted in front of her at the end of said clip. Little did they know it was similar to _another _clip featuring an aerokinetic, this one featuring a wind-wielding _heroine_ instead of hero. The next moment there was a bright flash of light before the teens found themselves back in the atrium.

"Fourteen brave and worthy champions, but only _one _shall win," he finished before disappearing in a flash of lightning and smoke, leaving fourteen confused and/or irate young women in the atrium.

"Girls… What just happened?" Terra asked the two nervously.

"I am unsure. All I know is that we had spent the half of an hour looking for our friends, and then there was a bright flash of light, and then we found ourselves to be _here_," Star answered worriedly as she looked around. After Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy had disappeared, the girls rushed to the Danger Room to see if maybe the guys were playing some sort of elaborate prank on them, only for video footage to show the brunette suddenly disappearing right as he was about to smash open a ripe watermelon with a wooden sword. Though they watched him do so for a few minutes with a rapt fascination, they soon ran diagnostics through the tower, finding that the four's biometrics had completely disappeared. Then they suddenly found themselves competing in some tournament a half hour or so later.

"Think we should see just who we'll be competing against?" Raven asked. "If the only way we're getting home is to compete, we may as well see who we're going up against," she continued, the three girls looking around them and getting a better look at their fellow heroines. The earlier clips and introductions had caught them on by such surprise that they were unable to get a good look at them. Supergirl and Batgirl were iconic, and they'd already met Zephyr, though the remaining five were a complete mystery to them.

First to catch their eye was the archer listed as Artemis, most likely after the Greek goddess of the hunt. She was a tall, proud-looking woman with blond hair tied down in a ponytail that went down past her waist, her eyes sharp like a hawk's and colored dark blue, her build honed for speed and agility. While her build didn't connote excessive strength or dexterity, her shoulders and biceps _were _lined with strong, wiry muscle, most likely to pull the bow string on the green bow she carried over her shoulder. Her outfit consisted of dark green pants that hung just below her naval with light green stripes running down her hips to the sides of her calves, black shoes with gray soles and clasps, black kneeguards with silver pads, a small combat knife sheathed on her left hip, and a black compartmentalized belt with a dual-toned round green buckle. The dark green shirt she wore was a sleeveless midriff that combined with her mask, which exposed the lower half of her face, eyes, ears, and let her hair flow back, a light green arrow emblazond on the front. On her forearms were dark green guards that stopped below her elbow and exposed her palms, a green band on her right bicep, a black metal quiver with green-notched black arrows hanging over her shoulders by a pair of black straps over her shoulders.

The girl listed off as Wondergirl had a simple costume in comparison to some of the other girls. Her eyes were the color of sapphires, teeth shining like perfectly polished pearls, her ebony black hair pulled back into a high ponytail with a single loch of hair sticking up over her forehead, her eyebrows thin, lips painted red, and figure elegant yet powerful. Her attire consisted of a pair of black high-heel boots that stopped mid-shin, a red tight-fitting dress that stopped just above-mid thigh, two lines of stars going from her hips up to below her throat decorating it up the front, while a golden wing-styled belt with a **W** was set around her waist, a golden lasso at her side, and a pair of star-shaped earrings on her ears.

The girl now known as She-Bang had the most down-to-Earth costume out of al present, and while it looked like she made it herself, she pulled off the look quite well. Her attire consisted of a red bodysuit that covered up her entire body, thick violet stripes with three red squares running down the sides of her hips and biceps, a violet cape over her shoulders, and a purple bandana with eyeholes cut out of it obscuring her identity, her hair tied in a ponytail at the base of her skull. She had black fingerless gloves with open palms on her hands, purple sneakers with black straps and soles on her feet.

Aqua-Lass resembled Aqualad in the color of their hair, skin tone, and swimmer's build, though her outfit was a bit more feminine and exposed her midriff and hands. The upper part of her outfit consisted of a light blue skintight jumpsuit with dark blue bands running over her shoulders, the outer sides of her chest, and around her armpits circling back up her back and to her shoulders, black diamond-shaped pads on the sides of her biceps and elbows, silver trim separating the dark blue elements from the light blue elements. While the rest of the upper half of her costume was light blue, her forearms up past her elbows, shoulders, and upper portion of her chest decorated with scale patterns. The lower part of her costume snugly hugged her hips, the majority colored light blue with dark blue wave patterns, trimmed with white bearing dark blue patches on the sides of her hips and shins. In terms of height she was a bit shorter than him, or at least from Starfire and Raven's perspectives since they were the only ones _there _who had actually met him.

The ten heroine known as Pantha was two, maybe three heads taller than the other competitors, her build herculean with broad shoulders, wide hips, and an above-average chest measurement. Her wrestling outfit consisted of a black one-piece with two yellow stripes on her hips, a yellow belt around her waist with a black circle containing a yellow **P **as here emblem. On her wrists were black bands with two yellow stripes, her shoes stopping mid-calf with yellow bands running up the front. Lastly was her Lucha Libre mask which, while resembling a panther with the two cat-like ears, was colored yellow with large black-rimmed white eyes similar to the fictional hero Spider-Man, three stripes on her cheeks and atop her head, her dark red hair billowing out the back of her mask and past her shoulders.

The heroine known as Argent was petite of build, though a little taller than Raven and had alabaster-white skin, her eyes a stark crimson similar to Ventus' own. Her costume and overall appearance were gothic, primarily colored black and red with accents in both colors, consisting of a black shoulderless leather blouse with a dual-layered red-pleated skirt with black frills running down the edge, black gloves leaving her white fingers hanging free with red frills on her biceps. She wore black stockings with red frills that cut off just below the knee, over which she wore red shoes with black platforms bearing white accents, which if removed would possibly put her and Raven at the same height. Her hair was ebony and spiky styled out to the sides, the lochs framing her face from her forehead colored red with a pair of hairclips keeping her hair from her left eye while her right was partially covered, a black choker around her neck, and a red triangle-shaped tattoo with criss-crossing corners set above her chest and below her shoulders.

Last was the fierce red-headed girl who the Master of Games had earlier described as a "sukeban gang leader". The girl had fiery red hair styled up in a high ponytail that went down past her rear and held in place by a pair of yellow chopsticks, a pair of thick red lochs framing the sides of her heart-shaped face with a pair of yellow hairpins keeping the hair out of the left side of her face. Over her eyes she wore an orange-tinted visor, said eyes colored gold which was revealed when she removed her eyewear to get a better look at her new surroundings. She was over five and a half feet tall with a curvaceous figure and a toned stomach any girl would kill for, her build lithe yet athletic, focusing more on speed and agility than strength and dexterity, though that didn't necessarily mean she possessed neither. Her attire consisted of pleated red hakama, a black silver-studded belt with a silver buckle in the center wrapped around her waist, matching oak geta with yellow flame patterns on her feet, and a white trench coat hanging over her shoulders like a cape, the clasps which held it in place below her chin doing nothing to hide the fact that the only thing separating her bare chest from the open air were bindings of inch-wide bandages, which seemed to conform to the shape of her upper body instead of concealing them like most would when binding their chest. Over the left side of her face was a chibi skull-shaped barrette with a crack running up the right eye, and on the back of her coat was the image of a pink heart bathed in red flames, what looked like a 50 caliber round punching up through the center with a trial of electric blue lighting behind it.

_That girl reminds me of someone Beast Boy went on about for more than half an hour once, but for the life of me I can't remember who. Not that it's really all that important, _Raven thought to herself before glaring in Jinx's direction. "What in the nine Hells are _you _doing here? You're no hero!"

"What's the matter, witch? Afraid I'll kick your ashy butt?" the pink-haired enchantress asked as sparks of magical energy were discharged between the two.

"Friends, please, let us not fight when it is not necessary," Starfire said worriesomly.

"Wow, you're just like the kid said you were," the bat-themed girl said walking over to them. "You may not know me, so I'll introduce myself. I'm Batgirl, and you two must be Starfire and Raven. Robin and I worked together before he joined the Teen Titans."

"Oh it is a pleasure to meet you, Girl of Bat," Star said unaware of her voice tic butchering the heroine's name. "Friend Robin has told us much about you as well."

"Hold on, I'm fighting a _veteran_? What the hell?" Jinx huffed in protest.

"What about you? You're not even a hero in the _first _place," Raven spat back.

"I guess _anyone _can qualify for these things if they only try _once_," the pinkette noted sarcastically.

"Batgirl, how's it going?" Supergirl asked coming up to the group.

"Great, the Girl of Steel _too_. This tournament will be _real _fair," Jinx huffed.

"What's the matter you walking disaster area? Afraid she'll kick your ashy butt?" Raven quipped with an uncharacteristic grin, her coat flickering to orange for a brief moment that somehow went unnoticed, given the stark contrast between that and the original color of her cloak.

"Champions! Round one! Face your opponents!" the Master of Games announced from all around before a flash of light ripped through the air, the collective of young women being whisked away to different arenas.

"Starfire vs Railgun!"

"Terra vs Artemis!"

"Raven vs Pantha!"

"Jinx vs Supergirl!"

"She-Bang vs Argent!"

"Wondergirl vs Aqua-Lass!"

"Zephyr vs Batgirl!"

"Let the contest… begin!"

* * *

><p><strong>Starfire vs Railgun<strong>

**FIGHT!**

In a flash of light, the alien princess Starfire and the Japanese sukeban Railgun found themselves on what looked like a large coniferous forest on earth, the trees which looked like redwoods growing over 300 feet tall into the skyline which was similar to Earth. Most would think the two of them were in California or something based on this information, but the two of them felt SOMETHING off about this place. Random patches of burnt ground scattered throughout would make that an issue.

"This place seems most strange… yet most familiar…" Star mused aloud as she surveyed her surroundings to make sure nothing could catch her by surprise. However, she should've been paying more attention to her _opponent_, otherwise she would've seen her picking up a flat stone from the ground, tossing it up and down in her palm before her eyes narrowed on the girl. Rearing her arm and wrist back with stone in hand, shoulder and bicep muscles flexing beneath her coat, she flicked her wrist into the throw, the stone spinning through the air toward her opponent's forehead. A moment later Star's head jerked back, the stone powdering across the girl's face as she nearly lost her footing, letting out a pair of eye beams in retaliation, the red-head hardly having to sidestep to avoid the sporadic energy attack. As Starfire rubbed the dust out of her eyes, the sukeban rolled off to the side and pressed her back to the tree closest to her, Starfire letting another pair of starbeams that took a chunk out of the tree she was hiding behind. In a blind fury, Starfire continued to throw starbolts at the tree Railgun was hiding behind, leaving her unable to escape her current position. While the tree bark was hardy, the yard-wide craters it took out of the ground showed just how powerful they were.

_Her fighting style is more passive than aggressive, though she _is _using her head, _the red-head thought as she strategized. If she stepped out too recklessly, she'd be at risk of being peppered by her opponent's green-colored energy bolts, and by the looks of things to her flanks, that wasn't a good idea. _Looks like I'll have to break out my trump card sooner than I thought, _she mused to herself as she reached into her coat, her hand going to a gleaming silver coin dispenser over her right hip at the "four o' clock position". Palming a bronze-colored coin in her hand with a click of the trigger, she laid it over her thumb behind her curled index finger. Narrowing her eyes at where Starfire was, bolts of white bioelectricity danced down her arm and to her palm, a white aura surrounding the coin in a thin shell. _NOW!_

Coming out into the open again and leaping over a starbolt that pulverized the ground it hit, Railgun flicked her thumb towards Starfire at that very instant, the magnetically-charged projectile screaming through the air with the force of a missile. Starfire narrowly dodged to the side, the sound of rumbling earth behind her drawing her attention over her shoulder. A few seconds later, her Centauri Moon Diamond-colored eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as a trench of scorched ground a mile long came into view, arcs of electricity leaping between whatever stones hadn't been glassed.

"Oh my heavens!" Star gaped seeing the massive trench dug through the ground with that one attack. Even if her people _were _resilient to most forms of conventional attack, what the red-head just used was anything _but _conventional. Her opponent's fighting style became even _less _conventional when she ran right at her and jumped into a roundhouse kick, sending the girl staggering back with a stinging cheek before her eyes narrowed and she lunged at her opponent, the two engaging in a contest of strength via grapple lock.

As the two then engaged in contest of brute strength, Starfire was utterly amazed that her opponent could actually hold out against her, even when her strength was currently above that of the average human. The two fiercely locked eyes, their feet digging trenches in the dirt as they tried to push the other back, before the groaning and creaking of wood echoed through the air. Looking to the trees around them and putting a temporary delay to their struggle, the girls saw gaping maws opening up in the trunks around them. Soon the hollow interiors lit up, billows of flame rising within at an alarming rate. At this signal, the two girls instantly split apart from one another, a column of flame descending at where they were standing, charring the ground black. At the instant the two's feet touched the ground after splitting apart, they quickly had to flee around what _appeared _to be a redwood forest when the massive trees randomly and sporadically released gouts of flame at them. As the two ducked behind some rocky upcroppings to figure out what was going on, it was _Starfire _who figured it out first.

"Hold the horses!" Star cried out suddenly. "I remember where we are now!"

**Mini-Flashback**

"And not just _any _mahogany, but mahogany from the planet of Malchior _7_, where the trees are 300 feet tall and breath _fire_!" Vent said dramatically after Starfire asked about his desk, sometime after _Robin _did. "From these trees, this desk was forged two thousand years ago, using ancient blood rituals of the Malchior people. Not _only _does this make my desk nigh inde_struc_tible, but it can bend the fabric of the universe it_self_!" he said with glowing eyes and whipping hair. "Also it's a very fine material. Very expensive."

"Ooooooh," she _ooooooh'_edin awe.

**Mini-Flashback End**

"We're on the planet Malchior SevAAAAAAH!" she cried out as another one of the trees breathed hundred-foot flames in her direction, the girl flying up into the air to try and get out of the flame's range. This however played into her opponent's plans as, from one of the tree's branches, she palmed another coin in her hand and narrowed her left eye as she took aim. As the alien girl weaved about through the air, she then caught Star backpedaling from a gout of flame, her rear flank exposed.

"KURAE!" the red-head shouted as she let the magnetically-charged coin fly, the piece of currency punching the sound barrier with a loud _**-BOOM- **_as it flew through the air, impacting the alien girl's back and sending her careening through the air and into one of the fire-spitting tree's maws. A few seconds it closed, the red-head watching the tree intently before it suddenly bulged out from the inside, then again, then another time before the alien girl punched through the bark, her outfit singed and her hair frazzled into a sooty afro.

"That… was unpleasant," Starfire muttered. "AAAAAAAAH!" she shrieked as more magnetically-charged coins flew at her, the alien girl barely weaving back and out of the way of each. However she was once again playing into the red-headed girl's hand, as she was slowly being maneuvered once more into a cluster of fire-breathing trees. By the time she realized where she realized where she was, she was already assaulted by a four-pronged sequoioideae-born pyrokinetic assault. It was as Star was weathering the assault that Railgun charged another coin, the magnetic force surrounding the coin causing her hair to become frizzy. As the coin glowed with an inch-thick aura around itself and the flames receded, the red-headed leader let it fly with a powerful flick of her finger.

_**-KWOOOOOM!- **_the coin bellowed as it shot through the air, throwing the red-head off her perch and the nearby trees bent sideways before the coin impacted the unaware alien girl, the feeling of a dreadnought-class warship slamming into her impacting her gut as she was punched clean out of the air with a loud _**-KRACK-**_, the girl's eyes wide and jaw slack before she dropped out of the air like a dead seagull, heading towards the unforgiving ground below before a bolt of lightning suddenly struck her mid-air and whisked her away.

"Winner… Railgun!" the Master of Games announced as said red-head landed back-first into a patch of foliage, pulling down on her hair to get the frizzies out of her ponytail, the sukeban disappearing in a flash of light a moment later.

* * *

><p><strong>Terra vs Artemis<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Terra… The Latin word for Earth if I'm not mistaken," Artemis noted as she notched an arrow, the archer and Terra circling around one another atop a rocky plateau, much like the ones you'd find in the rocky crags of Nevada.

"Are we going to discuss the etymology of our superhero _names_ all day or are we going to fight?" Terra asked as she assumed a brawler-type fighting style despite her spindly build, eyes and hands glowing gold as she flexed her powers.

"Very well then, let us fight," Artemis said as she quickly backpedaled and brought out her bow, notching a pointed arrow and firing, the blond throwing an arm up and raising a column of earth that easily caught the arrow with a low _**schwunk**_. By that point Artemis was already circling around Terra and fired more arrows, the blond raising more pillars of earth around her until the girl was completely surrounded by stone. Artemis at this moment brought out an arrow with a slightly thicker shaft, aiming high at low power before lobbing the arrow through the air, the green-colored projectile arcing just above the rock pillars that had surrounded the blond before dropping in, the explosive force powerful enough to send the rock pillars in all directions. Raising her forearm from her face, Artemis looked at the epicenter of the explosion to see that her blond opponent had not been caught up in the blast, a tunnel in the center of the crater indicating she'd dug her way out before the arrow landed.

"You should never let your opponent out of your sight," the blond's voice said from behind Artemis, the girl whirling around with a roundhouse kick and kicking the head off what appeared to be a glowing human-shaped puppet made of dirt and clay. Backpedaling and nursing her sore foot, she saw her opponent standing over a tunnel at her feet, hands and eyes glowing as she controlled the earthen construct, which assumed a fighting stance even with the absence of its head. Throwing her arms forward and dragging her feet across the ground, the headless earthen puppet rushed at Artemis by Terra's faster than would be implied by its composition, the archer bringing out her combat knife and carving gashes across her opponent's impromptu puppet, not wanting to waste her arrows fruitlessly.

"You're quite good at manipulating earth to this extent," Artemis admired as the blond swung her arms to and fro, dragging her feet across the ground and making the puppet act partially-accordingly. "Tell me, where did you come up with the idea to create a puppet to fight the battles you yourself could not?" she asked. Given the girl's spindly arms and legs, it was unlikely she could ever _physically _do much damage to her opponent on her own, hence the construct before her.

"Saw this on an anime, thought I'd give it a try," Terra said with a cheeky grin, causing the other blond to stare at her blankly as her arms fell slack. This would cost her however, as the shorter blond swung her right arm forward, the headless puppet doing so and knocking the girl off her feet. Rolling across the ground before coming to a stop, the archer flexed her jaw, satisfied that nothing was broken, though she had to rub the dirt out of her eyes from the blow.

_Had that puppet been made of solid stone instead of dirt and stone, that could've ended very badly, _the archer thought to herself as she rubbed and blinked the last of the dirt out of her eyes, only to feel the ground suddenly shift beneath her. Vaulting with a hand flip out of the way, the girl barely avoided being drawn into the ground she stood on, the shorter blond back on the offensive as she rose up on a large boulder. "Alright, you want to play rough, we'll _play _rough," Artemis said notching an exploding arrow at the girl before firing, the girl pulling the front of the rock back, the explosion blasting it and her away, though the girl quickly summoned the remains to her feet and caught herself before she fell.

"Bring it blondie!" Terra said dropping from her perch and placing her hands on the ground, a wave of earth pillars heading towards the archer, which she dodged as the jagged wave of earth was nearly upon her. Notching a knock-out arrow and firing, the arrow was swiftly met with a wave of dirt and earth, the blond quickly erecting a wall in front of herself before the gas could reach her, the wall then falling forward as the gas dissipated, causing the ground to shake and the archer to nearly lose her footing. Notching another arrow at the shorter blond, Artemis' eyes narrowed when she swung her arms around and over her head in a flourish before throwing them down, the ground collapsing and swallowing her, removing her from sight. Not wanting to risk going after her on the girl's own terms, Artemis readied a pair of arrows in her hand as she waited for her opponent to come back up, only to feel a pair of hands grasp her ankles. Looking down, she was powerless to stop herself from being dragged down, the earth covering her from the shoulders down, leaving her head above and her arrows out of reach.

"You know, while I'd _love _to have a long drawn-out fight for no reason," the geokinetic's voice said from in front of the archer before the blond poked out of the ground like a mole, goggles on her head as she wiped some dirt off her nose, "I'm just not feeling it, you know?" she said casually resting her head on her forearms, the archer struggling for a minute before huffing in defeat. There wasn't any give room, and in the time it'd take her to try and dig herself out, the shorter blond could do no small _number _of things to her.

And not like _that _you perverts.

"Winner… Terra!" the Master of Games announced before a flash of light whisked the archer away, the geokinetic leaping out of her hole and dusting herself off with a smile before she too was whisked away.

* * *

><p><strong>Raven vs Pantha<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Oh, what in the nine Hells have I gotten myself into," Raven asked herself as she found herself in what looked like an abandoned wrestling ring, though it was hewn from stone and covered in moss. Half of the arena's walls were knocked in, letting a fair amount of sunlight flow in.

"What's the matter little mage? Afraid you've bitten off more than you can chew?" Pantha asked as she raised her right foot into the air before stomping it down, doing the same with her left before she assumed a staunch stance.

"A little bit," Raven said before yelping as she leapt back, Pantha attempting to grab her and put the marginally-smaller mage in some form of painful hold. _Oh no. I've passively seen enough of that wrestling crap on TV to know that I do _not _want to end up in some kind of clutch hold, _she thought to herself as she continued to backpedal.

"_I can be of some help you know."_

_Brave, this _seriously _is not the time, _Raven said trying to suppress the green-clad aspect of her emotions.

"_So do you just ignore _all _of your problems?"_ Brave asked as the mage rolled to the right out of the way of a fierce charge.

Noooo_. _Some _I have living inside my _head_, _Raven returned.

"_You may wanna duck now."_

_Huh? _Raven asked only to get caught in a fierce lariat to the face, catching her off guard and sending her flying, the aged ropes snapping in her wake before she was thrown into the first row of seats, blood and spittle rising from her lips as she rolled over to get back on her feet.

"_You know, if you let me out to play, I can probably _whoop _her leotard-wearing ass,"_ Brave said poignantly.

_. . . You know what? Fine. You take the driver's seat. I'm just going to kick back and watch as someone _else _does the fighting for me, _Raven said getting to her feet, wiping the blood from her lip.

"_You know, if you asked Venty to do it, _he'd _probably fight for you,"_ Joy chirped happily.

"_And anything _else _you might request," _Love added with a perverse giggle as she made numerous groping motions with her hands. No surprise there.

_You know what, I'm just going to go to sleep now. Wake me up when this all blows over, _Raven said as she closed her eyes.

"What's the matter? Out for the count already?" Pantha asked as she came up to the wavering Raven.

"Shoryuken!" the then-green-clad Raven suddenly bellowed as she flew up with a spinning uppercut and sent Pantha flying. "Kouryuken!" the green-clad mage then said as she flew above the airborne Pantha before using a Shoryuken straight down and driving her back into the ring with unreal strength. "Yeah! Brave is _back _baby!"

"Brave? I thought your name was Raven!" Pantha said jerking forward and sending the now green-clad mage flying, the wrestler rubbing her eyes to make sure that last hit hadn't messed with her eyes, because blue turning into green was usually _not _a good sign.

"You know what I mean! Now bring it on cat lady!" Brave chortled as she got into a fighting stance. Raven was letting her have control of her own volition, and there was no way she was going to screw it up.

"Grah!" Panther bellowed as she lunged at Brave Raven, who simply smirked before dropping into her shadow, the wrestler landing on the mat before her opponent rose of the floor again just out of her reach, grinning smugly before Pantha got up and tried again. Floating about a few inches off the ground, Brave continued to taunt her opponent before extending some of her power to a pair of chairs which she slammed into her opponent's sides like a pair of cymbals. The stone-hewn chairs however crumbled into dust, and that only served to make her opponent angrier.

"Ah well, I prefer fighting with my _fists_!" Brave said with a large smile before she lunged at her opponent, the mage displaying uncharacteristic strength, Pantha crossing her arms in front of herself to block the hits. From what the Master of Games had said and shown, Raven was supposed to be some kind of mage. Not a hard-hitter like this. Given, Pantha had fought stronger, but the mage's build shouldn't have realistically been able to provide that much raw power. _Man, this girl's tough. Of course being a wrestler that's bound to be the case, _Brave thought to myself. _Everything here's too old to hit her with, and I've got my portals… Portals… _she repeated. _That's it!_ "I'm my own Portal Gun!" the green-clad mage whooped as she backpedaled, confusing Pantha before the mage lobbed a pulsing ball of dark energy into the center of the ring, then another under the wrestler's feet. Moments later she fell through, the wrestler suddenly bouncing up and into the ring, Brave jumping onto one of the corners before lobbing another portal onto the ceiling, the green-clad mage then dropping another portal underneath Pantha before she fell into it, only to drop out of the ceiling-bound portal and back into the arena.

"You! Fight like- A warrior not- A coward!" Pantha growled as she was dropped out of one portal only to land beneath the other, Brave meanwhile holding out her hand to keep the portals going while she cupped her chin with her free hand.

_Man this totally sucks. I mean _sure _I can keep her going up and down, up and down, up and down for as long as I can concentrate, but I kinda doubt if I _just _drop her that she'll be KOd, and my MP Bar isn't as high as Raven's, _Brave noted to herself, displaying a few tomboyish tendencies amongst the confidence she constantly exuded. _Hmmm… If Vince were here, he'd probably do something from a video game or a movie and knock her ass _out_, but what…? _she mused to herself, Pantha spouting Mexican swears at her as she continued to fall. _Ah, I know!_ she said snapping her fingers. _Smarty-pants! You got anything in there on "finishers"? _she asked back into her mind.

"_You _do _realize that Raven's knowledge on the subject is ex_tremely _limited, do you not?" _Knowledge asked poignantly. Pulling out a new-looking book with the letters **VG** from a shelf in the library representing everything Raven knew, she flipped through the pages a bit before coming to a **Fighting **section of it. _"Alright, it seems Beast Boy mentioned something about a huge Russian guy piledriving a bear and getting caught in a cyclone."_

_So I should give her a spinning piledriver? _Brave asked enthusiastically.

"_Well, that's _one _thing, but-" _Knowledge went on trying to suggest something more… sensible.

"For mother Russia!" Brave whooped as she lunged at Pantha mid-fall, the ring-set portal disappearing as the fell through it, the one on the ceiling fading as they fell from it, with the green-clad mage wrapping her arms and legs around Pantha's herculean frame. Spinning wildly, the wrestler's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates before she was driven head-first into the aged stone, large fissures spreading through the ring.

"Winner… Raven!" the Master of Games announced, Brave whooping and pumping her fist before she disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

><p><strong>Jinx vs Supergirl<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Man this totally _sucks_!" Jinx huffed as she appeared across from Supergirl. "I mean _sure_, magic can actually _hurt _you guys," she said remembering back to the weaknesses of prominent superheroes she was made to remember back in HIVE. "But you've got ten kinds of vision, super strength, and you can _fly_! How is _this _fair?"

"It isn't. Call it a bad matchup," Supergirl said with a grin, figuring this was going to be an easy first fight for her, only to waver slightly. _What… What's going on? _she asked as she looked up. _Oh no… _she gaped, witnessing a star in its Red Giant stage filling the heavens above her, casting its red light onto the landscape of the barren alien moon they had landed themselves on. _Crap! Why here? This girl may actually be able to _beat _me! _she panicked slightly, feeling her powers slip under the red sun's glare. _I'll have to finish this quickly, _she said as she shot at Jinx, who pirouetted out of the way of Supergirl's desperate lunge, the superheroine tumbling to the ground while Jinx dismounted with nary a problem.

"What happened to your super-speed? You're supposed to be _faster _than that," Jinx huffed, somewhat disappointed that she wasn't being taken seriously before she noticed Supergirl having a hard time standing. Tilting her head to the side, she then looked up to the sky and saw something she hadn't before. A red sun. Looking back to Supergirl, the acute sorceress made the connection almost instantly, a large Cheshire grin pulling itself across her features that even the kunoichi would've been proud of. "Ah, so _that's _how it is huh? Man I can't _wait _to tell the others I actually kicked _Supergirl's _skirt-wearing butt," she said sprinting towards her opponent.

"You're wearing a skirt _too _you know!" the blond huffed as she threw her fist out in return, Jinx flipping over it and onto the ground behind her before she kicked off the girl's back and sent her into the ground.

"Yeah, but _you're _the one giving everyone a free _show_," the pinkette chuckled.

"Hey! I took to wearing _biker _shorts after that last incident!" Supergirl huffed as she pulled up her red skirt, showing a pair of black biker shorts that protected her modesty.

"Are you coming _on _to me?" Jinx asked rhetorically, the blond's face turning red with a mix of embarrassment and anger before she lunged at Jinx with another punch, the pinkette narrowly dodging this one before she began to somersault across the barren field, Supergirl rising into the air to fly only to catch a pink hexbolt to the chest as soon as she was airborn.

_What the- Why did I just get weaker? _Supergirl asked herself as she landed harshly on the ground. Little did she know that Jinx's probability-manipulating magic was accelerating the speed that the big red sun overhead was stripping her of her yellow-sun-given powers.

_Hm. That red sun may be making her get weaker, but she could still put me out like a light if she wanted to. Oh well. No shame in taking pot shots, _Jinx thought to herself with a shrug as she began to somersault away, which was much faster than her running given her lithe frame.

"Get back- GAH!" Supergirl tried as she took a hard one to the face, knocked flat on her back while Jinx laughed at the blond's misfortune in the background. The following battle wasn't anything flashy like you'd see in an anime or action movie. Nor was it anything you'd write home about. It was mostly Jinx somersaulting or flipping about the landscape, Supergirl's powers being sapped by the red sun above, and Jinx's hexbolts augmenting the red sun's effects each time they hit her. By the time a half-hour had passed, Supergirl was on her last legs, all of her powers gone while Jinx was still fresh as a daisy.

"Hm. I may not've matched you muscle to muscle or anything like that, but a win," the pinkette said with a grin as she waved her hand. "Is still a win," she finished as a trio of hexbolts flew from her fingertips, the ground at Supergirl's feet detonating and sending her into the air before she landed flat on her back, unable to rise due to the red sun above.

"Winner… Jinx!" the Master of Games announced, Jinx pumping her fist before she disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

><p><strong>She-Bang vs Argent<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Just because you have superpowers doesn't mean you'll beat me," She-Bang said as she and Argent circled one another, the latter's hand glowing while the prior stood in a relaxed fighting stance, ready to move at any given moment.

"Don't think I'll lose to some _super_-gymnasteither," Argent returned drolly as she took note of the area around her. The ground was lined with pieces of bark and dried leaves, crunching underneath her feet with each step, and surrounding the circular grove they were in was a massive forest of bamboo, all shooting up and shading the majority of the area.

"Oh I'll _show _you a super-gymnast," She-Bang said as the bell was rung, the girl flipping towards her opponent numerous times before jumping into a flying kung-fu kick. Argent raised a crimson barrier in response that She-Bang had to kick herself off of, then narrowly rolled out of the way when her opponent sent the red wall straight at her like a battering ram, disappearing before it could knock down the bamboo stalks in its wake. Turning right, Argent fired off no small number of crimson energy balls at She-Bang from her palm, who with her super-human agility managed to dodge all of them.

After a minute She-Bang took to the bamboo groves, Argent firing her energy attacks at the super-gymnast only for her to swing from one to the other, dodging the majority of the blasts before she caught the top of one of the shoots and pulled it back. Moments later like a taut branch, She-Bang was swung over and toward Argent, who raised up a crimson shield in defense which She-Bang landed a two-legged kick into, the shield cracking before breaking with She-Bang delivering a reduced-power kick to Argent, who was sent rolling backwards along the ground kicking up bits of bark and dead leaves. Getting up from the ground with a few small cuts and scrapes, Argent raised an energy barrier in front of herself, stopping She-Bang from knocking her light out, a wall of spikes making the gymnast back-pedal until she ran back to the bamboo groves.

Rubbing her sore jaw and not in any mood for a repeat of the girl's _last _acrobatic feat, Argent lashed out with a red blade of energy from her palm, cutting the nearby green-colored shoots down and causing the red-and-purple-clad girl to fall flat on her back when the one she was on was felled, unable to roll to reduce the damage. Rolling to the side out of instinct, the girl's intuition was rewarded when Argent's energy hammer came down on where the girl was moments before, She-Bang pulling herself to her feet as the energy hammer disappeared, only to be swatted into the bamboo grove when Argent formed a massive hand out of energy that grasped some of the felled bamboo shoots from the ground before swatting her like a fly with a loud _**THWACK**_.

"Just 'cause I'm from New Zealand doesn't mean I don't watch any good movies," Argent said holding her arms out in front of her, crimson energy condensing into the shape of two semi-automatic pistols. Inhaling a deep breath and enjoying the calming setting one last time, the wind rustling the bamboo leaves in the afternoon light, she suddenly cut loose in a fast and furious gun kata, near-white rounds flying everywhere and taking out chunks of the bamboo stalks at random points even as they fell to the ground. She-Bang's adrenaline went into overdrive the moment the first bullet punched through the side of her cape and clipped some hair off the back of her neck, running, leaping, and flipping around the bullet ballet in a graceful display of gymnastic gunplay, though this didn't save her costume from getting clipped, her cape punched full of holes, and bits and pieces taken off the costume itself. The only solace she had was that they only burst into tiny flashes of light when they hit her, otherwise she would've ended up looking like Swiss cheese. After ten minutes of blood-pumping, muscle-burning, bullet-blazing action that rivaled any action movie out there, Argent fell back onto her ass, panting slightly as the last of the bamboo stalks fell to the ground, revealing that a half-mile out from the clearing in every direction was a mountaintop, mist rolling just a few stories down. "Whew. _That _was fun," the energy manipulator chuckled as she inspected the damage. She tried not to total _everything_, but back-pedaling wasn't exactly an option for She-Bang _–who was currently buried under a half-ton of bamboo stalks-_, so everything kinda went down in the gunfight. Even _if _the sentiment wasn't mutual.

_This girl… is completely insane… _She-Bang panted under a thick pile of bamboo shoots. The fact that Argent wasn't haphazardly blasting piles of bamboo in search of her meant the energy-manipulator was taking a quick breather, through after what she lived trough she couldn't exactly capitalize on it. _I… might be outclassed here… but all I need is one good rush and I can win this thing, _she told herself as she steadied her breathing. Wouldn't do to lunge in head-first and half-assed would it?

"I know you're out there," Argent said suddenly causing She-Bang to freeze. "That dimension-bending ref hasn't decided a winner yet, so I know you're hiding out there somewhere." The next moment there was the loud **CRACK **of a bamboo shaft against those on the ground. "I may not be a super-gymnast like you, but even without my power, I can still fight," she continued with another **CRACK**, this one closer than the last. "So, are you going to come out and fight, or," **CRACK** "Do I have to turn this whole field upside down until I find you?"

Argent's answer was for She-Bang to leap from the next pile of bamboo stalks down her route, a six-foot stalk acting as a bo-staff while the pale-skinned goth wielded a five-foot, the ends immediately clacking together. The energy-manipulator may've been _practices _in staff fighting to offset her powers when expended, but not only did She-Bang have more experience with them, but she was also in better condition than her opponent. In hindsight Argent should've just waited to get some of her energy back instead of fighting on her opponent's rules instead of her own, but she was there now, and she had no intention of giving up. At tremendous speeds the two's staves impacted one another, their exhaustion prolonging the fight longer than would've if they had been in peak condition.

It looked like the match was going to be even, but at the same time, Argent thwacked She-Bang's left hand, and she in return did the same to Argent's right, causing them to lose their grips on their staves. Quickly rearing their free arms back, Argent and She-Bang punched one another in opposing cheeks with a cross-counter, both being thrown back and through the pieces of bamboo in a cacophony of wood-like clattering. Coming to a stop and utterly exhausted from both their trying ordeals, the two girls forced themselves up to their feet, though victory fell into Argent's hands when she chucked a quarter-sized ball of energy at She-Bang's chin, causing her feet to leave the ground before she fell flat on her back.

"Winner… Argent!" the Master of Games announced as She-Bang was whisked away, Argent pumping her fist in victory as she fell to one knee.

* * *

><p><strong>Wondergirl vs Aqua-Lass<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Hmmm…" Wondergirl mused as she walked through the sand at her feet. "This place almost reminds me of Themyscera," she mused as she took in sight of her surroundings. The sands were colored a creamy alabaster white, the cliffs the color of chalk, with forest green vegetation amidst the cliffs. The rolling ocean waves brought about the smell of salt, and she thought she heard seagulls in the background. "I wonder where it is that my opponent could be," she mused aloud, not noticing the silhouette that stared at her through the water before dipping down, blending into the water and foam.

After a minute of walking down the beach a ways, her honed senses caught the bubbling of water to her right. Whirling about, she saw her opponent rise up on a column of water that spiraled around her forearms, which she threw forward and sent a hail of watery bullets her way. Years of training kicking in, she raised her Amazonian Bracers and deflected the horizontal deluge, the water either bouncing off or spraying her in the face, though she blinked the water away as she weathered the assault. A minute later however, she was suddenly waylaid by an entire _column _of water that sent her barreling back into the chalk cliffs behind her, the bracers she wore unable to block such a massive attack. Coughing out water and shoveling debris up herself, she saw that the water was becoming more agitated as it ebbed and flowed across the chalky beach, slowly but surely dragging more of the sand into the water, causing the beach to begin shrinking.

"I do not have the field advantage here. I need to get to higher ground," she said as she whirled around before leaping into the air and latching onto the cliff face, ascending the chalky heights as the waves churned at the bottom of the cliffs. Her years of intense physical conditioning serving their purpose, she was able to quickly pass the reach of the waves below, shaking the water out of her hair as she looked down, she once again was unable to see her opponent, whose attire also served as camouflage.

The next moment the water directly beneath her began to bubble, the woman pressing herself to the cliff face just as a massive geyser of water shot up through where she would've been. Looking down to continue searching for her opponent, she was caught unaware when the column of water jettisoned at her previously suddenly came down on top of her, Aqua-Lass getting the drop on her _literally _as she dragged the Amazonian off of her perch and down into the tides below. The startled Amazon had the air knocked out of her lungs as she was dragged down, the two grappling as the air-breather tried to wrench herself free, lucking out and decking her opponent with a reduced-power super-strength punch before high-tailing it to the surface and taking in a breath of much-needed hair. A moment later however she was pulled back down, and like in every water-terror-themed movie ever, the signs of struggle showed beneath the waves before some final bubbles floated to the surface, the surface remaining placid before Aqua-Lass suddenly burst through the waves, Wondergirl slung over her shoulder and passed out.

"Winner… Aqua-Lass!" the Master of Games announced through the salty air as in a flash of light, Wondergirl was whisked away, the Atlantean soon following.

* * *

><p><strong>Zephyr vs Batgirl<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Strange place," Batgirl noted as she and her opponent found themselves on a large Buddhist-style temple above the clouds, the structure sitting atop a large fang-like mountain with several others in the distance parting the cloud line, a yellow sun, much like Earth's, shining down on them.

"I like it though. Reminds me of home," Zephyr said uninterestedly as she examined her nails, reclining in mid-air as she floated about. Of course, her "appearing" out of nowhere prompted Batgirl to throw a like-themed projectile at her, the elemental spirit flipping over it before landing on the ground in a crouch, a yawn escaping her lips as she tilted her head to the side and avoiding the return trip. She was then engaged in a fierce martial arts battle, though it'd be more prudent to say that Zephyr was more akin to a slip of paper in the wind, ever fluttering about and untouchable when you attempt to grasp at it. What stung most was that her feet hardly left five feet of their original position, and when Batgirl tried to kick _those_, it went as well as kicking at air. _Literally_.

_I guess this fight takes "hitting air" to a whole new level, _Batgirl pouted before reaching into her compartmentalized belt and dropping a smoke pellet to cover her escape, only to suddenly find herself out in the open, her opponent's hand outstretched as though she had just waved it out of the way. "Oh… Wait…" she thought to herself, the corners of her opponent's mouth forming into a smile before she inhaled deeply, her chest swelling to tremendous proportions before she exhaled, the bat-costumed girl getting thrown back across the ground before she wedged the scallops on her left forearm into the ground and held herself in place. Reaching into her pouch once again, she pulled out a red shaft that she clicked the end of, throwing it at her opponent as soon as the gale ceased. The next moment there was a bright flash of light with half the concussive force of a high-end explosive, Zephyr thrown back before righting herself in a half-second. The next moment she had to raise a barrier of wind around herself, taking the form of a spiraling shell around herself as a flurry of batarangs were hurtled towards her.

"Honestly, you have to understand that you're out of your league here," Zephyr said plainly with crossed arms as the heroine's batarangs bounced off of her wind barrier. "This matchup is going nowhere, and fast."

"Hey, you're free to give up if you want," Batgirl said drawing an exploding batarang from her belt. "But I'm not one to quit!" she said chucking it through the air, Zephyr opening her hand as the explosion went off in front of her before she clenched it into a fist, the explosion being smothered until only a small billow of smoke rose out of mid-air. "Doesn't _anything _work on you?" the bat-themed heroine asked exasperatedly.

"No, not really," Zephyr said off-handedly. "Normally I don't interfere with mortal affairs, but it would injure my pride to simply let myself be beaten by one who doesn't even have a power to call her own."

"Oh _here _we goOOOOOOO!" Batgirl cried out as a cyclone suddenly appeared underneath her and threw her into the air. Quickly flinging her cape to the sides and forming a glider, she suddenly had the wind knocked out of her when Zephyr appeared in front of her and delivered a fierce palm strike that exploded on contact, sending her spiraling down to the ground and landing in a heap, the wind spirit floating down with arms crossed.

"Hey. Batgirl. You still alive?" Zephyr asked as she nudged Batgirl with her foot.

"HA!" Batgirl suddenly whooped as she threw a trio of pellets at Zephyr, the capsules exploding and covering Zephyr up to her neck in a white foam which soon hardened into cement. "Not so tough _now _are you?" she goaded, her question dying on her lips as her opponent seemed to lose consistency before a silver gust of wind flew out of the concrete prison, coalescing right in front of her a moment later, arms crossed.

"I still am," she said coyly.

"Oh what the fu-" was as far as she got before Zephyr slid a roundhouse kick across the ground and catching Batgirl's heels, a cyclone suddenly throwing her high into the sky and out of view.

"Winner… Zephyr!" the Master of Games announced as a bolt of lightning struck the fumbling black dot that was plummeting towards the clouds in the distance, whisking Batgirl away before Zephyr herself disappeared in a flash of light.

* * *

><p>In a bright flash of light, the winners from the first round, Railgun, Terra, Raven, Jinx, Argent, Aqua-Lass, and Zephyr all appeared in the atrium-like arena once more. Before confronting the Master of Games in an attempt to stop him from leading them all by the nose once again, the winners turned to one another to see just who they may have to fight next, should they be capable of simply dropping out and heading home.<p>

"Well look who made it past Round _One_," Jinx sneered as the winners of their respective matches appeared.

"I'm surprised you didn't manage to off _yourself_," Raven hissed in return, sparks colliding between the two.

"Well played, young heroines," the Master of Games congratulated as he appeared in a flash of light. "For those of you who have survived Round One, I congratulate you."

"Survived? Then what happened to the losers?" Raven demanded.

"Yeah! Where's Starfire? And how the hell'd Supergirl lose to _this _washboard bimbo?" Terra asked motioning to Jinx, who growled irately at the geokinetic while giving her the one-finger salute.

"Peace, heroines. Survived is merely an ex_pression_. Starfire, Supergirl, and the others have been returned home safely," he answered, almost as though it were _rehearsed_. "Think not of the vanquished, but of the amazing prizes you shall receive at the conclusion of the Tournament of Heroines."

"Yeah… What exactly _is_ in it for _us_?" Terra asked raising an eyebrow. "Not that I don't mind the challenge, but if we're fighting merely for _your _benefit and no one else… I'm going to just head on home unless there's something in it for _me _when all this is over," she accused, causing the Master of Game's eye to twitch before he regained his composure, making a grandiose motion with his hand before he raised it to the atrium above, which turned white before a veil of shifting colors began to form.

"Why, a place in _history_ of course," he announced as the colors coalesced into coherent images. "Not only shall you be known as the greatest of young heroines, but you shall also receive a special pedestal in history alongside the Champion of Champions. The Hero of Young Heroes… Teen Titan, Ventus!" he announced as images of the brunette in action began to form, Raven, Terra, and Jinx's eyes widening in recognition while the brows of Railgun and Argent raised, Aqua-Lass and Zephyr showing some interest but not that much, the prior because she was already interested in someone back home, and the latter because she'd already seen him in action.

"So this is where our friends had gone before?" Raven asked, figuring that the others had somehow been pulled _here _sometime before. _I only wonder whether or not there's some form of time differential we have to contend with on the return trip._

"Yes, and while the fourteen of them put up valiant fights the likes of which have never been seen before, hero Ventus has shown himself to hold great potential as a young hero," the Master of Games went on. Awaiting their reactions, suffice to say he wasn't disappointed when he saw Argent's hand go to her chin as an amused smile pulled at her face.

"So, Hero of Heroes huh?" the black-haired girl asked in amusement. "I may have to see just what he's made of once I win this thing."

"Hey! You aren't getting through to Vent unless you get through _me_!" Terra growled shaking her fist at the pale-skinned girl.

"Hm… Seems there are _some _men who at the least are competent fighters," Railgun huffed in a gruff yet feminine tone as she tossed a few yen coins in her hand, speaking the first English she had since getting dragged into that whole mess.

"So what, is this like some Prom King & Queen thing?" Jinx asked in honest curiosity. Raven glowered at her for that comment, but the pinkette simply flipped the mage the bird again, who in turn gave the sorceress the _double-_bird, resulting in the two flashing one another the double-bird and sneering at one another.

"I am glad to see you are all so enthusiastic about the upcoming matches," the Master of Games said with a smile, especially after things had derailed so horribly last time. "For the time being, rest and refresh yourselves, for tomorrow you face… Round Two!" he announced before a flash of light whisked the seven heroines away. "Hmhmhmhmhm. Despite how my plans had derailed when last I aimed for tremendous power, I know for a fact… I will not fall for the same trick twice," he said with a smirk, his amulet gleaming with muffled and panicked cries echoing from its depths.

* * *

><p>"Champions! Round Two! Face your opponents!" the Master of Games announced the next morning after the girls had received a breakfast of… pretty much whatever it was they requested. It wouldn't do to have the girls develop second thoughts when he was so close to completing another full set of wondrous and amazing powers.<p>

"Raven vs Jinx!"

"Terra vs Zephyr!"

"Railgun vs Aqua-Lass vs Argent!"

"Let the contest… begin!"

* * *

><p><strong>Raven vs Jinx<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"You're going down, witch!" Jinx said with a wide grin as she let some pink chaotic energy dance off her fingertips. Observing her surroundings, she saw that it was comprised entirely of floating platforms suspended in the middle of space, not all that different from where Gizmo and Kid Flash had _their _battle in the previous tournament really, only _those _weren't spiraling about.

"Not before _you_, you walking disaster area," Raven returned, clearing her mind so her magic would have the greatest effect. This wasn't something Brave could just _strong arm _her way through. As much as she hated to admit it, Jinx was tough, and one-on-one she could take down anyone on the team if circumstances permit.

"What's the matter bookworm? Running out of new material?" Jinx questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Like _you're _one to talk," Raven huffed in return, a spike of anger causing the space at Jinx's left foot to detonate, the cat-like girl yelping in surprise as she back flipped away, the platform they were on giving way giving the two more reason to separate. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" she intoned as she extended her power to the platform fragments that were still floating about, sending them at Jinx who expertly flipped and weaved around them, coming out completely unscathed apart from a bit of dust on her clothes. Throwing her arms out in return, Jinx launched a flurry of hexbolts at the platform Raven was on, causing it to crumble only for the mage to take flight, causing Jinx to huff in exasperation before she loosed a flurry of hexbolts.

_*Sigh* That girl's more determined to beat me than usual, _Raven noted as she hid behind a large platform to get out of Jinx's range of sight. Since this one was larger and thicker than the others, the best Jinx could do was chip away at it, and that was only if she stopped blasting everything in the area Raven ran to. _If I try to go out there now I'll only get shot out of the sky. Maybe a little… misdirection, is just what the doctor ordered, _she thought as her eyes began to glow within the cowl of her cloak.

"C'mon goth girl! I know you're out there!" Jinx shouted as she continued to hurl hexbolts in the direction Raven ran. "Ha! There you are!" she shouted as a familiar blue cloak shot through the air, the sorceress firing hexbolts at her opponent before landing a hit with explosive results. When the smoke cleared, the same blue cloak fluttered down. And nothing else. "What the-"

"Hiyah!" Raven cried as Jinx was caught in a flying kick to the back, sending her rolling head over heels before she flipped back to her feet with her hands, her eyes narrowing before she threw her arms forward and fired a pink energy beam at the mage, who in return fired her own beam of dark energy and met it in the middle. As the two continued to pour it on, a sporadic ball of opposing energies began to form between them, slowly growing larger until it began to eat into the platform underneath them, cracks spreading and sparks flying from their respective attacks before they reached critical mass and the attack detonated, blowing the two to opposing platforms.

With narrowed eyes the two lunged at each other once again, the mage catching Jinx's fist and threw her over her shoulder in mid-air, the pinkette kicking off the nearest platform before barreling into Raven from behind. Landing on a platform in a grapple lock as they struggled for dominance, a smirk formed on Raven's face as her hood fell down, Jinx's eyes immediately widening as she backed off with a cry, her eyes met with a blue-gray-skinned visage with long tangled hair, a fanged mouth, and a singular red eye that caused her heart to nearly skip a beat. Patting her chest down, Raven's face returned to normal before she extended her willpower to the ground beneath Jinx, causing it to collapse and send the girl hurtling down into the ether. Or _would've _had she not caught onto the bottom edge of the platform at the last second.

"Looks like I win this one," Raven said from above, her face completely hidden from Jinx's view. In a fit of rage Jinx blasted the cloak with a hexbolt, only for it to collapse into a small pile on the ground, the bit of rock she was grasping finally breaking under her weight before she went screaming into the ether, a bolt of lightning dropping down and whisking her away.

"Winner… Raven!" the Master of Games announced as Raven dusted off her cloak, which she had used as a puppet to make Jinx lose her grip.

* * *

><p><strong>Terra vs Zephyr<strong>

**FIGHT!**

"Okay… This is kinda weird…" Terra said taking note of her environment, the only two elements a stark contrast of one another. At her feet and going off in every direction with no interruptions was a vast plane of sandstone-colored earth, reminding her of when she first met Ven back in Arizona. The sky overhead was a perfect sky blue all across with no clouds present.

"Overall, a field that gives both of us the advantage to our own elements," Zephyr said from behind Terra, the girl shifting the earth at her feet to give herself some distance as she faced her opponent, who at the moment was merely contented to look at the vast blue sky.

"I'd think if you wanted to win you'd pay more attention to your opponent than the _scenery_," the blond noted getting in a brawler's stance, hands glowing softly in the morning light.

"Can't a girl multitask?" Zephyr asked unconcernedly, though her feet were floating a couple inches above the ground as she listed about.

"Not with _me _you can't!" Terra said as she clasped her hands together as if in prayer before slamming them onto the ground, golden arcs of geokinetic energy leaping across the ground before they culminated beneath Zephyr, the elemental being struck by a large stone fist that threw her into the air with a loud _**CRACK**_. Flipping off her hands and getting to her feet as soon as she hit the ground, her alabaster skin turning a light gray from the point of impact. Throwing her arms out and sending a gust of wind out at Terra, the blond pulled her goggles down over her eyes before the ground at her feet crept up her ankles, holding her in place as the winds buffeted against her lithe frame, her hair whipping behind her. Since weathering out the storm was no option for her, Terra quickly swung her arms out to the side before bringing them up in front of her face, a wall of earth rising in front of herself before the rock at her ankles shattered and she struck the wall with a palm strike, hand-shaped chunks of rock flying out and would've struck her opponent's frame had she not leaned out of the way, her opponent's defense soon resembling Swiss cheese as she turned her defense into offense, collecting the hole-riddled wall in front of herself into a single large stone before she hopped onto it and took to the air.

"It's unfortunate we wound up fighting one another. You're probably the only person who can actually _fight _me fight me," Zephyr said rubbing the sore spot on the side of her face. "Anyone else would just end up flailing angrily."

"I thought when beings like you entered tournaments like this to fight others that they had to assume forms susceptible to mortality," Terra deadpanned.

"No, you're thinking of _Raiden_," the elemental replied. _"Seriously, that guy is _such _an attention hog," _she muttered to herself.

"What was that last part?" Terra asked putting a hand to her ear.

"Nothing," Zephyr returned as she summoned a tornado around herself before throwing it at Terra, the blond pulling back on her boulder until she was perpendicular to the tornado before kicking off it with all her strength, the brute force punching through the spiraling winds like a meteor through wet tissue paper. Finding nothing on the other side when the winds cleared, Terra was thrown to the ground harshly when Zephyr appeared behind her and roundhouse kicked her away, the blond rolling across the ground before she flipped off her hands and back into place. Throwing a barrage of stones at her opponent, Zephyr had to cross her arms in front of herself as the attacks buffeted her defenses. When it ceased and she looked up, she was suddenly greeted by the blond's earth-clad fist into her chest plate, knocking the wind out of her and dropping her to the ground flat on her back. Before she could get up however, Terra dug her hands into the ground in front of her before flipping a slab of earth on top of Zephyr, much like one would overturn a table and pinning her.

"Huh… Looks like I'm in a bit of a bind here," Zephyr said looking from side to side, seemingly unperturbed by the stone slab on top of her. "Guess I'd better give up."

"So wait… You're just giving up? Just like that?" Terra asked inquisitively.

"The result of our fight was obvious from the start. No matter how the wind howls, the mountain cannot bow to it," Zephyr returned, acting as though she wasn't being weighed down by a massive stone slab that, were it atop a normal person, would've crushed if not injured them. "Besides, your feelings for Ventus are whole-heartedly genuine. I merely have a more… _casual _interest in him."

"Wha- How do you know about that?" Terra cried blushing up a storm, trying to cover her face while peeking between her fingers.

"You remember all those sweet nothings you whisper to the wind at night when you leave your window open? I hear _every_, _single,_ word," Zephyr said coyly, causing Terra to blush even more and imitate a tomato, the geokinetic raised a boulder over her head and dropped it down on top of Zephyr.

"Winner… Terra!" the Master of Games announced as a bolt of lightning struck the pile of rubble, which disappeared in a flash before Terra herself disappeared as well, a massive blush still on her face.

* * *

><p><strong>Railgun vs Aqua-Lass vs Argent<strong>

**FIGHT!**

Upon appearing in their new environment, the three quickly scattered in opposite directions, as to not get caught in a two-on-one matchup from the start. All had fighting experience prior to "entering" this tournament, so they all knew that was a likely scenario. Quickly appraising their surroundings while taking cover behind stone pillars, they noticed that the area played into _all _their favors. The area itself appeared to be a large underground cavern with a skylight bringing in natural light from above, a number of paths circling the walls on the upper walls, and a large platform with three bridges in equaling distance from one another situated over a large crystal clear underground lake. While the area was composed of dark gray stone, there were a number of emerald-colored crystals scattered throughout all the rock.

A moment later, Aqua-lass dove straight into the water, her heels barely being clipped by a static-propelled coin and crimson energy bolt. Their initial attack failed, Railgun and Argent charged onto the main field from the sidelines, blasting projectiles at one another that met head-on, the red-head flipped above Argent's head as she slid like a ball player, the two sending another barrage of projectiles at one another before Aqua-lass burst from the water, twin jets of water thrown out at the two and sending them rolling to the edge, Argent dropping into the water while Railgun dug her fingers into the edge of the stone platform, her digits digging in. As she rolled to the right and avoided getting dragged into the water by Aqua-lass, Argent quickly flying out of the water only for the Atlantean to flip into a forward kick and knock her back into the water, attempting to down her opponent only for Argent to release a body-wide blast of energy. Being thrown out of the water, Aqua-lass was about to brace herself to land, only to find herself held over Railgun's head as though she weighed nothing. Before she could word her thanks, the red-head tossed her up into the air before delivering a roundhouse kick to her abdomen and sent her rolling across the ground. Getting to her feet, she suddenly found herself on the receiving end of a barrage of crimson energy bullets aimed at her feet, Argent standing on one of the wall-set pathways and firing a barrage of bullets from a pair of ethereal guns forcing Aqua-lass to dance.

Being forced to dodge for the amusement of others wasn't exactly Aqua-lass's idea of _fun_, and while a part of her was _thankful _that Railgun saved her from such humiliating straits, the other part was _not _due to the redhead having used her distraction as an opportunity to get a free pot shot; at her forehead. As the Atlantean dove back into the water, Railgun plucked a couple pebbles from the ground before launching them at Argent off the end of her thumb, the energy manipulator rolling to the side as the launched pebbles formed little craters in the arena wall, the pale-skinned girl gaping before she took off in a sprint, sweating bullets as the red-head continued to shoot at her, often shooting a few feet in front of her and forcing her to turn on her heel, the girl almost falling off the path a few times. At the same time, Aqua-lass had positioned herself beneath Railgun, rubbing her sore forehead before she kicked her legs and swam upwards, breaking the surface of the water with a loud _**SPLASH **_as she headed towards Railgun, hoping to drag her back into her domain and finish the fight like she did with Wondergirl. This plan was dashed however when Railgun raised her right leg above her head in a perfect 90 degree angle to the ground before bringing her heel down onto the Atlantean's head; hard. A loud _**kra-KROOM **_echoed through the chamber as the dark-haired girl's face met the floor, a small crater formed from the overwhelming strength behind the attack, the red-head rolling out of the way of a large energy blast as the Atlantean was plucked away by a bolt of lightning. Now that the fight was one-on-one, the fight could _truly _be decided.

Locking eyes with one another, the tension growing so thick you could cut it with a knife, Railgun immediately whirled on her heel and headed for the nearest land bridge to head for the wall. In response Argent formed a brightly-glowing ball of energy in her hands before launching it at the land bridge, hoping to cut Railgun off and isolate her to the center of the field, making her a more open target. However, that plan was shot all to hell when, despite the fact that the land bridge had been blown to bits, that the red-head had been able to leap from one piece of debris to the other until she made it to the wall-laid path. The pale-skinned girl had to quickly roll to the side when her opponent fired a magnetically-charged coin at her, which resulted in a large explosion that blasted the path into debris. Paling slightly as Railgun ran clockwise around the cavern to get to her, Argent followed suit and ran in the opposite direction, forming a semi-automatic in her hand before firing energy bullets over her shoulder at Railgun, most of which missed, though the dodging _did _slow the red-head down. As this was going on, Railgun _too _fired shots over her shoulder, these ones blasting chunks out of the path. Argent however did not notice this until she came across a sheer wall and no path, the fiery red-head on her tail and quickly approaching. Whirling around and forming a wall which she sent at her opponent, Railgun simply ran up the side of the wall before flipping over the moving defense, transitioning into a flying kung-fu kick that caught Argent in the stomach and caused her to stumble backwards, her arms flailing about as she attempted to regain her footing. Railgun however had different plans as she simply walked forward with a blank expression on her face, simply staring at Argent before tapping her on the forehead, sending the energy manipulator sprawling over the edge. Apparently she forgot that she could fly, because she was sent tumbling down into the water below, flailing about before she grasped the edge of the cave wall. Looking up, the girl quickly paled _–further, mind you- _as Railgun began to charge another railgun shot from the high ground, energy building around the yen piece in her hand.

"So… Will you give or not?" the red-head asked plainly as she kept her gaze aimed on her water-logged opponent, her stance saying if the energy manipulator did anything that she'd be fired upon instantly and without hesitation. Finding herself between a rock and a hard place, the energy manipulator sighed as she admitted defeat by raising her hands above her head. Railgun had ran her right into a corner, and she'd seen what those magnetically-charged coins could do. She did _not _want to find herself on the wrong end of one.

"Winner… Railgun!" the Master of Games said recognizing Argent's surrender, whisking her off in a bolt of lightning before the red-head followed behind.

* * *

><p>"Very well done young champions. With Round Two, the Semi-Final passed, you are now on the precipice of the Final Round, where the greatest young heroine on Earth shall be decided," the Master of Games announced once Raven, Terra, and Railgun had re-assembled in the meeting hall. "As I had told young Ventus before however," he said cutting off the blond as she was about to speak up. "To allow you to fight as you are now would be a waste. Rest and renew yourselves, so that when you next fight, no excuses can be made for any weariness or shortcomings," he announced before sending the three away. "Yes, yes, everything is coming together now," the Master of Games said looking down at his amulet. "Starfire, Artemis, Pantha, Supergirl, She-Bang, Wondergirl, Batgirl, Jinx, Zephyr, Aqua-Lass, and Argent's powers are now all mine to command," he said cycling through the eleven maiden's abilities. "While one should not count their chickens before they hatch, it is most fortuitous that Cyborg was unable to contact his comrades back on Earth, for little do Raven, Terra, and Railgun know that they are all playing into my hand. Be it magic, geokinesis, or electromagnetism, soon my powers will once again be at their peak, and once that goal has been achieved…" he said as his features darkened. "I shall reclaim all that was taken from me, the hero Ventus' beaten and bloodied corpse the opening act for my return to power," he said grimly and forebodingly as he disappeared to his own quarters in a flash of light, the thought of using Ventus's friends' powers against him bringing more of a smile to his face.<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Final Round<strong>

**Raven vs Terra vs Railgun**

**FIGHT! **the Master of Games announced as the next morning, Raven, Terra, and Railgun all appeared on the final battlefield. The area was flat with a cliff overlooking one side, while the area itself overlooked a murky bay littered with no small amount of garbage. The ground was colored in dull green grass nearing brown, and off in the distance was a large brown mound surrounded by bounders that appeared to have large barnacles set on top of it, gray bristle-like grass atop its ridge. The three were about to forego formalities and get right to the fighting, lest any of them find themselves in the midst of a two-on-one confrontation, only for the ground beneath their feet to shake in a powerful tremor.

"What was that?" Raven asked as she regained her footing. A few seconds later a stronger tremor followed, and the brown flesh-like mound a distance away in the distance began to rise from the ground, revealing a gi_gantic_ alien quadruped, four pearl-like eyes set on its face, its mouth a pair meat flaps split down the middle resembling… something that would cause this story to transition to an **M-Rating**. Accompanied by its rise was a multitude of screeching noises, a number of winged alien creatures partially resembling bats bursting from the flesh of the thing's back through the barnacle-like protrusions marring its flesh.

"What the _fu_cking hell?-!" Railgun cried as the flying creatures descended towards the three, forcing them in opposite directions. The creatures themselves had flat fleshy heads ending with pointed snouts, a brightly-colored, bony plate on top, hooked rasping barbs lining a soft slit-like mouth at the bottom. They had not grasping claws or lower limbs, but instead possessed a set of curved razor sharp talons on a flexible tail.

"What _is _that thing?" Raven cried as she rolled out of the way of a swoop.

"Hold on! I remember this now!" Terra cried as she launched a wave of gravel at the flying creatures that came at her, knocking the majority out of the air while she rolled out of the way of the last one.

**Flashback**

"Incoming!" Beast Boy cried as the flittering aliens flew towards his Hunter, sending out his pet Bloodwing into the fray while he shot desperately with his pistol.

"Outta ammo!" Cyborg cried as his Berserker's rocket launcher mag went black.

"Run for it!" Terra cried as her Siren turned invisible and Phasewalked away from getting flattened.

"Scatter!" Vent cried as his Soldier dropped his Scorpion Turret and opened up on the thing's face with his combat rifle as he backpedaled. Let it be known that when playing Borderlands on the big screen in the living room, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Terra, and Ventus got a _liiittle _bit carried away. At the moment, they were trying to gun down the Rakk Hive guarding the third piece of the Vault Key, and the Defender Rakk assaulting them were causing tensions to run high.

**Flashback End**

"You're saying we're in one of your stupid _video games_?-!" Raven demanded as she extended her will over half the wave of Defender Rakk that were attacking her, smashing them into one another before throwing them to the ground.

"Either that or we're on an alien planet with _eerily _similar fauna," Terra noted as she quickly raised a wall in front of herself, the Rakk attacking her slamming against the wall with multiple _**THUMP**_s. "Though the Rakk Hive and Defender Rakk appear to be _much _bigger though."

"Tch," Railgun huffed as she dropped a few coins into her palm from her side holster, taking aim before punching holes in the Rakk's bodies and dropping them to the ground. At that moment the Rakk Hive began to rise on its hind legs, causing a tremor to throw the three girls off their feet when it stomped its front legs down onto the ground with tremendous force.

"Geez did we _have _to catch this thing at the end of its hibernation cycle?" Terra asked as she caused a field of stone spikes to rise out of the ground around her as she ran, impaling the flittering aliens and stopping their charge before she bolted.

"What kind of games do you guys _play_?-!" Raven demanded as she erected a shield around herself, the Rakk attacking her bouncing haplessly off before she took to the air.

"I'll have you know the games we play are perfectly _normal_!" Terra cried back as she took a stone platform to the skies, the mage and geokinetic loosing attacks at the Rakk that were chasing them while the Hive lumbered towards them. "Shit, where'd Railgun go? No _way _I'm losing because of a sneak attack!"

"It's a single spot of red on this polluted wasteland. How hard can she be to find?" Raven asked rudely as she looked around from the skies, fending off Rakk attack. As all this was going on, the mage and geokinetic soaring through the skies and attempting to not get counted off by a _technicality_, Railgun dropped a coin into her palm, tossing it up and down a few times as she blew an unruly bang out of her face. Narrowing her golden eyes at the four-eyed alien stomping about the field towards the two most conspicuous people there, the Japanese sukeban took aim at the thing's right flank before she dug her feet into the ground and extended her arm, magnetically charging the coin in her hand and causing it to spin. The flittering aliens bit and scratched at her hair and coat, but the girl weathered it out until her magnetic charge around the coin reached maximum capacity, the currency piece glowing electric blue. The Rakk Hive turned its head to the right to catch the glimmer of light out the corner of its eye, but its actions came too late as the girl released the coin, throwing herself back as the projectile sailed through the air and straight through the beast's right side and out the left, blood and guts thrown through the air leaving a massive chunk of its body missing, the alien falling to its side with one last pained gasp.

"Whoa! That looks just like in Borderlands!" Terra gaped as she looked at the Rakk Hive's blown-open carcass, the Defender Rakk shrieking as they fluttered away from their host.

"Will you for_get _about the video games, for _ten _seconds?-!" Raven demanded with narrowed eyes, scrunching her nose as the smell of corpse began to permeate the air. "Azar, that corpse _reeks_! Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" the mage intoned as she extended her will to the alien's corpse, hoisting it into the air before throwing it a quarter-mile out into the bay, a bead of sweat dripping down her forehead as she tried to get the smell of dead alien out her nostril.

"Well… That's _one _way to get rid of the smell," Terra said with a sweatdrop on the side of her head at the… _unrefined _display from the normally-composed mage. _I may have to re-evaluate my opinion on her later, _she noted to herself before she spotted a glimmer of red out the corner of her eye, Railgun dropping down to the field and approaching them, her hair and clothes a mess from when the Rakk had been able to get to her. "So… Think you'd be interested'n playing Borderlands on XBOX Live?" the blond chuckled toward the red-head, only to get a poignant look from the bluette and the red-head. "Should I take that as a no?"

"Yes," Raven said plainly as she extended her will to Terra's belt before yanking it, and her, to the side, throwing them both towards Railgun who simply flipped over them while the mage dropped down into a portal, gaining some distance across the field. However, being thrown like a ragdoll didn't seem to sit well with the team's geokinetic, because as soon as she re-appeared, she was thrown into the air by a line of rising earth pillars after the blond had clapped her hands and slammed them onto the ground. The blond was about to get a flying kick from the red-head, but the blond quickly erected a wall before rolling to the side, her defense cracked but unbroken. Flipping off her hands and into the air, she avoided a magically-thrown stone courtesy of Raven, the geokinetic landing on it before kicking it out towards Railgun. The red-head held her arms forward in response, her feet digging trenches into the earth as she was pushed back before she threw the large stone over her head with a low _**thud**_.

"How strong _is _this girl?" Terra asked in shock before she clapped her hands together and slammed them into the ground, a mud-borne dragon with glowing golden eyes rising from the murky soil before it opened its maw and loosed a barrage of mud balls at the red-head. Railgun crossed her arms in front of herself and blocked, her attire staining a murky brown-green as she was forced back, her feet digging yet another pair of trenches in the dirt. Being pushed back far enough, the red-head burst through the barrage and to the side, her eyes narrowed as she lunged at the blond who attempted to redirect the mud dragon at her, only for the red-head to move around the projectiles like a red flash. She may not've been _the _Flash, but she was still pretty darn fast.

Before either could get a fresh shot in, both found their feet encased in black spheres of energy before they were hoisted off their feet and slammed into one another, courtesy of Raven. Shaking their heads, the two girls quickly rolled out of the way as a pair of large stones were thrown their way. Terra lobbed one of the stones back at Raven while Railgun readied the attack she derived her name from, only for the blond to upheave the stone at her feet and throw her on her ass, the red-head's eyes widening as the ground around her turned pitch black before a black raven enveloped her, shooting off into the sky before disappearing in the distance, a flash of light signifying her removal from the field.

"So I guess it's just you and me now, huh?" Terra asked as she took a moment's reprieve, Raven too requiring one from the effort of throwing Railgun into the stratosphere.

"Yeah, I guess," Raven sighed as she centered herself to regain some of the energy she'd spent in this fight. All the fighting up to this point had severely depleted her willpower, despite the breaks between rounds. If she were so inclined, she would say that her magic relied on a slowly-replenishing "MP Bar". Rest and meditation helped remedy that, but back-to-back battles were trying on her health. Given hwo Terra's power relied on something more… corporeal than magic, it probably wasn't as bad for her.

"To battle!" Terra suddenly roared as she broke a rock spire off its base and sent it at Raven like a club, the mage flying out of the way before extending her will to the stone bludgeon, resulting in a fierce tug-of-war between the two. Like with the large piece of street a week before however, the dark and geokinetic energies began to clash with one another. Minutes later when the two energies reached their peak, the two heroines trying to overpower the other, the large stone club suddenly detonated, sending chunks of stone and dust all over the place. "Well _that _worked as well as expected," the blond deadpanned, her sense of déjà vu coming a little late. "Look Raven, both of us are evenly matched here, so how about instead of having a long drawn-out battle for no reason, let's just settle this with one last go?"

"You mean like in that kung fu movie last movie night?" Raven asked with a raised brow, the image of a chibi Japanese-dressed and Chinese-dressed martial artists flying into kung fu kicks and striking one another playing in the background behind her.

"Yeah, just like that," Terra responded with a snap of her fingers. While she herself may've been better at manipulating earth than Raven, she mage could manipulate just about _anything _to the same extent that she could with large objects, just with more effort.

"Azarath… Metrion…" Raven intoned as she gathered dark energy around her hands, two ebony spheres forming before they engulfed one another and fused into one. "ZINTHOS!-!" she roared as she threw her hands forward and sent a black beam out at her opponent.

"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!" Terra cried as she too released a beam at Raven's own, this one colored yellow as her eyes and hands glowed brightly. Moments later the two beams collided in the center of the field, the mage and geokinetic pouring more power into the attack, a sphere of clashing energies growing to immense proportions as the two poured their attacks on, the rocks around them levitating into the air before turning into dust around them. Soon enough the sphere of clashing energies began to dig into the ground, black and yellow sparks arcing about before the two energies reached critical mass and detonated.

_**KRA-KROO-KROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!-!-!-!**_

A hundred-foot mushroom cloud then rose over the battlefield, highlighting the sky with a mix of ebony and gold, the shockwave sending foliage whipping back in every direction around. As the smoke began to clear, a deep crater with two outstretching trenches was revealed, a deluge of the debris that had been launched into the atmosphere fell across the battlefield, the pitter patter of rock against rock echoing through the air, the battleground as silent as a graveyard. When the last of the risen dust finally cleared, the opposing mage and geokinetic were revealed to be half-buried in rubble, the two seeing stars as they tried to regain their bearings and ignore the ringing in their ears.

"Ooooogh…" Raven groaned as a hand went to her head, the Emoticlones in her head thrown all about in all directions. The mage's cloak was torn to shreds, her leotard faring no better and her left glove now nonexistent.

"Someone get the number on the thing that hit me?" Terra asked as she rubbed her sore head, the left lens on her goggles shattered, her shirt in tatters and her left shoe missing. "Whoa…" she gaped as she got into a sitting position from where she was. "This looks like the end of a DBZ fight gone wrong," she gaped looking at her surroundings, the low grumble of stones grinding against one another signaling her to Raven getting to her feet. "Man... you look like something the _cat _dragged in."

"Shut… up…" Raven sighed tiredly as she used what little willpower she had left on a rock to Terra's left, the stone levitating into the air before it conked Terra on her temple, the geokinetic falling over and unable to get up, too tired to rise.

"Winner… Raven!" the Master of Games announced.

"Damn…" Terra sighed as the bolt of lightning whisked her away, the mage disappearing in a flash of light.

* * *

><p>"Very well done, Young Heroine of Heroines. Victory is yours, and your place in history alongside Hero Ventus is all but assured," the Master of Games said congratulating her as she reappeared, her clothing restored as was a small degree of her fatigue. "Go forward young heroine, and claim the prize you fought so hard to attain," he urged, motioning to a white doorway atop the pedestal as he stepped to the side. The blue-clad mage nodded tiredly, barely anymore than 10, maybe 15% as she ascended the step's heights, a sense of satisfaction washing over her as she remembered those she'd surpassed, both directly and indirectly, on her way to the top. When she passed the Master of Games however, a plethora of images flashed through her mind, causing her to pause mid-step. The most prominent of all was Vent's final fight… against the Master of Games himself, using an amalgamation of a group of young heroes other powers.<p>

"All that stuff about getting a place in history… That was all a lie wasn't it?" Raven asked turning around, the Master of Game's eyes widening in shock before he regained his composure, a dry smile forming on his features.

"Ah, that's right. You're an empath aren't you? Capable of reading a person's emotions even if they aren't necessarily _there _anymore," the Master of Games mused. Now that he'd been found out, he allowed the facade to fall. "Truthfully I could've waited a while longer before resorting to my secondary plan, but that could've been easily compromised had word gotten out."

"So then I'm guessing my friends… are in there," she said pointing to the pendant on the Master of Game's neck, a plethora of muffled cries escaping. "But let me ask you this. If you're some kind of all-powerful being. Why not just take our power from the _start_? Why make us fight one another?" she questioned. "If we need to be weakened first, I can think of quite a few ways that plan could go awry."

"Us all-powerful being must abide by certain… _rules_ of conduct when interfering with those of other dimensions," the Master of Games answered as he tuned out the muffled cries from within the amulet. "However, I'm nothing if not… _flexible_, in the way I do things."

"So then you set up Supergirl to lose from the beginning?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow, figuring Jinx couldn't have beaten her under even circumstances.

"Quite. You see, even with all of the other's powers, Supergirl would still be capable of matching my newfound strength had she won. That's why I set her up early on," he admitted. "And now with my plans revealed, there is only one last thing I need to take care of…" he said as his eyes glowed bright red, his body rising into the air with his pendant radiating a bright light. Spreading his arms out, the first thing to appear were Starfire's armbracers, re-sized versions of Terra's brown leather gloves appearing over his hands, Wondergirl's Amazonian bracers appearing over the two. Next was Zephyr's samurai-style chestplate, Supergirl's **S **insignia superimposing itself over the material, Batgirl's compartmentalized utility belt snaking itself over his own. Next was She-Bang's bandana-like mask, Railgun's crimson ponytail hanging down his back. The only powers that his appearance didn't directly take from were those of Artemis, Pantha, Jinx, Argent, and Aqua-Lass.

"Eliminating _you_," he finished, the transformation complete and as his eyes fired a pair of lasers at the startled mage, only to peter out before they could reach her. "Ah, that's right. Supergirl's powers require the light of a yellow sun to work," the Master of Games stated aloud as he rubbed his chin, the mage sighing in relief that she wouldn't have to contend with _her _superpowers. "But… that is something that can easily be remedied," he amended as he raised his hands to the atrium skylight, his pendant glowing and a yellow sun forming overhead, casting its warm light onto the atrium below.

"Oh boy," Raven paled as the Master of Games floated over to her, her mind racing as she attempted to figure out some way she could defeat the Master of Games. With the powers of thirteen different heroines, he wasn't exactly pressed for options, and she was on her last legs as it was, so she knew she had to _really _think outside the box if she wanted to stop this guy from capturing anyone else. It was at this moment that an old memory flashed to the forefront of her mind; back from before the Teen Titans were officially recognized in Jump.

_**Flashback**_

"Hey Raven," Vent said getting her attention one day.

"Yes?" the mage asked in return.

"A word of advice from one thinker to another."

"Sure."

"When all else fails…"

"Mmhm."

"Do something incredibly ridiculous."

" . . . "

_**Flashback End**_

_Huh. Never figured that gibberish he was spouting when we first met would ever have any significance later on, _Raven thought with a small smile hidden by the shadow of her hood. _I've only got one shot at this, _she said gathering what energy she had remaining before doing something "incredibly ridiculous" as Vent would've put it. The next moment she shot up at the Master of Games with a cry of- "Yoink!" -, snatching the ruby pendant and breaking the strap with a snall _**-snap-**_as the relic was freed.

"Come back here with that! It is rightfully _mine_!" the Master of Games roared as he rounded on the mage.

"Nyaaaaaaa!" Raven _nyaaaaaaa_'ed pulling down an eyelid and sticking out her tongue. _If Beast Boy saw me acting like this, he'd never let me hear the end of it. _"Eyaaah!" she suddenly cried as the Master shot crimson beams from his eyes. "Crap crap crap crap crap!" the mage cried as he began using Terra's terra… kinesis, to throw chunks of the atrium floor at her. Apparently while the ruby pendant was the means of him attaining other's powers, if he had already incorporated them into his being, simply removing the pendant from his person wasn't going to be enough.

"Return to me my amulet!" the Master of Games demanded as he fired Supergirl's eyebeams at Raven once more, the mage bolting to the side while getting the tail of her cloak singed, the Master of Games then roaring before he released a flurry of hexbolts towards the ground with a wave of his hand, the mage sent flying into the air with the concussive force of a cannon when the ground beneath her detonated.

_Agh… _Raven gasped as the atrium skylight came into her line of sight, then the columned walls. The next moment the Master of Games lobbed some of Starfire's starbolts at her, the mage shielding herself as best she could only to get thrown back against one of the pillars which cracked under the force of the impact. _Damn... I don't have any strength left from that last fight, _she cursed as she rolled into a sitting position, the pendants straps clutched tightly in her hand and her body ached. Seeing her down, the Master of Games then unleashed a hail of arrows and batarangs at her, the mage throwing up the strongest barrier she could, only for it to be shattered like class at the end of the metal deluge.

"_**When all else fails… Do something incredibly ridiculous," **_Vent's voice said finding its way to the forefront of her mind.

_Heh. That's just like something you'd say if you were here, _Raven thought with a chuckle as a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. _Wait… That's it! _she said to herself as she eyed the amulet in her hand.

"Give up!" the Master of Games demanded in indignant fury. "It is _bad enough _that I let that fool _Ventus _trick me into playing his game. I will not let that happen, a _second _time!" he roared as he threw his right fist forward, Pantha's super strength punching straight through Raven's hastily-errected barrier and sending her recoiling backwards through the pillar that was at her back, the Master of Games then holding his left hand forward and firing an arrow from each fingertip to finish off his opponent.

"VENTUS!" Raven cried out just as the flurry of arrows was about to strike her, the pendant in her hands responding to her call for help summoning him mid-sentence in a bright flash of light.

"-Jersey please," a familiar voce said mid-sentence, stopping when he saw where he was. "Oh man, not here agAAAAIN!" the brunette cried as he narrowly dodged and batted away Artemis' arrows from himself, only for the last one to catch him in the left shoulder. "GAAAAAAAH! THE SAME FUCKING _PLACE_! AAAAAAAAGH!" he cried yanking the offending projectile out with a quick tug, his face twisting into a pained expression as the previously-bandaged wound was struck once more. Honestly, he'd just gotten over having Robin's _birdarang _hit him there. Those things _hurt_. Biting his lip to keep from crying out, he looked around before the bloodied and beaten form of his friend caught his eyes. "Raven? Raven! What happened to you?" he cried desperately as he ran over to her, her outfit torn and singed, a few bruises visible on her body with a bit of blood leaking from the side of her mouth. With a labored breath, Raven focused her vision to catch a familiar pair of crimson eyes, a weak smile tugging at her face.

"Vent… You really came," Raven said happily, finding peace as she was held in the brunette's arms.

"Raven, who did this to you?" he asked, the mage pointing over his shoulder, directing him towards the Master of Game's new form. "You…" Vent growled at the sight of him, once more capturing others for his own benefit. "You just couldn't _quit_ could you?" the brunette growled angrily before he gently set Raven against the wall, the mage beginning to heal her injuries while the "Hero of Heroes" stood his ground against the extradimensional being. "I'm guessing by the fact that Raven's here that you tried a Tournament of _Heroines_. Really, are you _that _sexist, or is it just because I kicked your butt last time and thought they'd be easier prey?" he asked mockingly.

"Do not _mock_ me!" he roared as he flicked his wrists, four slim batarangs appearing in his hands before he threw them at the brunette from all angles. The brunette raising his sword and deflecting them while shielding Raven's recovering form from those he couldn't he then rushed to her discarding his weapon to the side.

"Hold on! I've got you!" Vent said as he rushed backwards, pulling Raven into his arms and leaping away, the pendant slipping from the still-weakened mage's grasp and clattering across the stone floor as the two ascended to the height of the balcony.

"Vent… The pendant…" Raven rasped weakly as she pointed to the center of the room, the brunette looking over his shoulder and catching the familiar glint of ruby red on the atrium floor. Quickly diving down to it, the introduction of a magnetically-charged coin to his back sent him barreling into one of the pillars when his hand was within inches of grabbing it. Groaning as he pushed some of the rubble off himself, the brunette spat out a glob of blood from his mouth as the Master of Games floated over to the amulet, which he then took in his hand before looking at the injured brunette mockingly.

"That was quite close, but as your people say," the Master of Games said as he fastened the amulet around his neck once more. "Close only counts in _hand grenades_."

"Pheh. I whooped your ass once. I can do it again," Vent said pushing the last of the rubble off himself while rolling out of the way of Supergirl's eyebeams, his hand grasping the battle-damaged bokken before he turned his gaze to the amulet. "Don't worry Terra! Starfire! I'll get you out of there! I promise!"

"You shouldn't make promises you can't _keep_!" he roared as he threw his hands forward, Argent's twin beams shoting forward, enlarging into a pair of massive hands which tried to grab at the brunette. In response, the brunette brought his blade down summoning a whirlwind around himself which buffeted the hand's grasp long enough for him to leapup and out of the way. Looking up, the Master of Games recoiled when the brunette kicked off the ceiling and came straight down at him, right fist pulled back as he shouted-

"You give me back my friends you lying BASTARD!" he roared as he thrust his right fist forward intent on putting the Master of Game's lights out, only for the brunette's fist to nail the pendant before to both their surprises, pierced it, sporadic beams of light released from the confines as the Master of Games tried to regain control. Not wanting to lose out on a viable opportunity, the brunette planted his feet on the Master of Games' chest plate, grabbing the collar with one hand while forcing the other deeper in. "Quickly! Grab my hand!" he shouted into the pendant, the feeling of a hand grabbing his own prompting him to return the action before he pulled his arm back and kicked off the Master of Game's chest, the being stumbling back as a bright flash of light issued from the pendant as one of the heroines was released. Landing back-first with the rescued heroine in his arms, the brunette rubbed his eyes before blushing a shade of red normally reserved for tomatoes as, sprawled out on top of him in a very… intimate, position with hands planted at the sides of his head was none other than-

"Hey there, cutie. Come here often?" Supergirl joked with a mischevious smile smile, one that the brunette chuckled nervously to in return before his eyes widened. Quickly grabbing the girl's biceps and roughly rolling to the side after pulling her to his chest, the two narrowly avoided a pressurized stream of water that cut a gouge in the floor, the Master of Games growling irately at them as Supergirl's emblem disappeared from his chest. "Hey now. You wanna play like that, you'll have to take me to dinner and a _movie _first," the blond giggled playfully as the brunette was now poised above her panted heavily, only to yelp as the brunette rolled off to the side again.

"Stand still!" the Master of Games shouted as he fired a storm of arrows towards the tumbling duo, before the two came to a stop, Supergirl pulling the brunette into her chest with one arm and flyingout of the way of a magnetically-charged coin.

"Raven, right?" Supergirl asked as she flew up to the recovering mage, the brunette getting… well-acquainted with the insignia on her chest with arms flailing haplessly. "Stay here. Your friend and I will handle this guy."

"Would you at least let him _breath_?" Raven asked throwing her hood over her head to hide the blush on her face at seeing her friend's face, Supergirl looking at her confusedly before looking down, seeing the brunette she'd brought up with her struggling to breath as he floundered about like a dry-drowning salmon.

"Oops. Sorry," she apologized hastily as she held the brunette at arm's length, said teen greedily inhaling deep breaths of air and filling his lungs to capacity.

"What… were you trying to do?" Vent wheezed out as he shook the black spots out of his eyes. "_Suffocate _me?" he asked irately as not only had he been subjected to something that would probably get a bullseye slapped onto the back of his head by her cousin, but was now being held out like a doll in the young woman's arms.

"My bad," she apologized again before a green energy bolt slammed against her back, the blond whipping her head around to see that the Master of Games had taken the opportunity to lob a pot shot at her from behind while she was distracted. "Oh so _that's _how you want to play it huh? Vent! You hit him high, I'll hit him low!" she said throwing the brunette through the air in a high arc before she flew towards the floor, leveling out and heading straight for the Master of Games with the speed of a freight train, the being looking to both ends of the two-pronged attack before he got a brutal right fist to the stomach, followed by another and lastly an uppercut which sent him into the air with his back arched and his jaw on the verge of breaking. The sun once again blinded his eyes before the brunette obstructed his view of it, the hero driving his fist into the pendant and once more calling into it for someone to grab his hand.

"NO!" the Master of Games roared as he flailed against the discharge of energy being released from the breach in his pendant, the brunette landing on his back once again after wrenching a heroine free, looking up and hoping to see one of his friends only to blush as once again, and not by his fault, he and another prominent heroine were once more in an, _ahem_, compromising position, the young woman planting her hands at the sides of her head as she held herself up.

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were doing this on purpose," Batgirl chastised in a semi-serious semi-flirty tone, her instincts flaring and her hands going to the brunette's shoulders before the two rolled out of the way of a crimson energy mallet that would've flattened them, the two coming to a stop with the brunette now above the bat-themed heroine.

"I'm _not_!" Vent argued with a flushed face before grabbing her forearms and rolling out of the way of a super-strength punch that would've flattened the two, the Master of Games staring at them irately as he fired off waves of arrows, eyebeams, and energy blasts after Batgirl's belt had left his waist.

"Blast! How are! You able! To do that!" the Master of Games roared at the two before he had to redirect his attention to Supergirl who, now with the benefit of a yellow sun over her head, was matching him in terms of raw power; just as he predicted and had tried to avoid.

"You got any smoke pellets in there or something?" the brunette asked as he and Batgirl were finally able to separate from one another, the teen calming his raging hormones with a deep breath into the lungs and out his nose.

"Why? You going to try and get one of your friends again?" she asked fisting a few from one of her pouches. All innuendos aside, the time to fight was now.

"Third time's the charm," the brunette said in return as he readied his bokken, only to yelp out as Supergirl decked the Master of Games across the face and caused Starfire's eyebeams to shear his weapon in half. "What're you trying to do? Kill us!-?" he demanded as he pat his head to ensure he hadn't gotten scalped.

"Sorry!" Supergirl apologized before decking the Master of Games once more with a loud _**-WHAM!-**_, Ventus and Batgirl rushing at him together before the latter threw her smoke pellets at the Master of Games' chest, a cloud of smoke rising around him. As he threw out his hands to dispel the smoke with Zephyr's wind power, Supergirl had already laced her fingers together and thrown the brunette into the air, the Master of Games narrowing his eyes as he readied two wild punches at the falling brunette, only for his hands to suddenly be stopped by two spheres of black energy. His eyes went to the mage who was supporting the other three from the sidelines, a shadow was cast over his face; before he could cry out, the brunette had once more driven his extended hand into the depths of his amulet, foregoing a punch to the face as he attempted to pilfer another heroine from him, and with that another portion of his waning power. Kicking off and landing on his back, the brunette bypassed the blush that accompanied the young woman now straddling him in lieu of getting details cleared.

"Before you say anything; This is com_pletely _unintentional despite the trend," the brunette said before the pinkette above him could say anything.

"Just for the record, Cheshire's still pissed at you for turning on us," Jinx said as she allowed herself to be rolled or bounced across the floor while in the brunette's arms. Said teen shielded her from the debris when the Master of Games' energy attacks struck the floor where they were moments before, only for him to then be preoccupied by Supergirl's wicked strength and Batgirl's gadgets.

"Duly noted," the brunette said plainly before he separated from the girl and helped Jinx up. About to join the fight that was steadily turning into their favor, Jinx's eyes widened as the Master of Games sent another storm of arrows at them between his bouts with Supergirl and Batgirl, the brunette blasting most of the arrows out of the air with a gust of wind only for an arrow to find home in his thigh, the teen looking like he was about to cry out only for him to rip the arrow out of his leg, biting into his sleeve with a muffled cry escaping his lips.

"Ah… Thanks for that," Jinx said as she felt a bead of sweat go down the side of her temple.

"No… problem…" Vent panted out as he tuned out the throbbing in his leg when the arrow hit. "How'd you end up here anyway? Wasn't this supposed to be a Tournament of _Heroines_?"

"Maybe that one time I tried going good was enough to qualify," the pinkette said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Look out!" the brunette said tackling the girl to the girl sidelong as, once again, a hail of arrows narrowly missing the two, Vent then carrying the pinkette in his arms and dodging the projectiles that came his way. With his sword destroyed and the current trend, he'd rather _not _have another projectile find home on him a _fourth _time. Three in one day was good enough thank you very much.

"I have to ask, what's this guy's beef with you?" Jinx asked as she was being carried about bridal style. Now that Tempest, or rather _Vent_, wasn't acting like a pervert, she could actually tolerate his presence.

"Right before the Tournament of Heroines, he tried the HerOOO approach," the brunette replied leaping over a magnetically-charged coin mid-sentence that blew out the ground at his heels. "Once I found out what he was doing, I tricked him into fighting me in a winner-take-all final match."

"Huh. So _that's _why he's been firing at you for the past five minutes," the pinkette replied with a shrug of her shoulders before suddenly realizing something. "Hey! Watch the hands buddy!" she shrieked flailing in his arms. Maybe she'd have to rescind the earlier "wasn't acting like a pervert" comment from earlier.

"My bad! Honest! And quit flailing or I will _drop_ you!" the brunette cried angrily before tossing the girl into the air and leaning back, narrowly avoiding a wave of earth that would've swept him away while performing a move reminiscent to the Matrix before he caught Jinx in his arms upon her descent. _Man, now I know how Musashi Miyamoto felt all those times he was rescuing damsels in distress, _he thought as he took off running again.

"Toss me like that again and I'll kick you on the rebound," Jinx huffed with crossed arms. Considering the fact that he was a hero and he wouldn't just drop her, the probability of her foot meeting his face the next time he tried that was quite high.

"You're welcome," Vent grumbled under his breath before leaping over a pair of emerald eye bolts. "I assume you can take care of yourself?" he asked when his feet touched the ground, glad he was given a moment's reprieve to let the girl out of his arms.

"Hey, I was one of the top students at HIVE before you blew it up. I think I can handle myself just fine," the pinkette said before cart wheeling off.

_Technically it was both Cyborg and _Blood _who got the school to collapse after knocking down a support pillar. Not blow up, _the brunette thought to himself before he ran at the Master of Games. Bokken or _no _bokken, he could still do some damage, and with Supergirl, Batgirl, Jinx, and Raven throwing attacks in, this guy was going down. Again.

At the same time in the Master of Games' mind, he expertly balanced group-to-solo combat and strategizing as he tried to figure out where things went wrong. Obviously he wouldn't admit that it was not quitting while he was ahead, so he blamed his current straits on allowing the mage to catch him unawares. So preoccupied with ensuring that Supergirl's power became his own, that he completely overlooked the frail-but-magically-versed mage. Not only that, but Ventus' appearance was another unexpected variable, and because of him and that blasted sun he'd placed _directly _above his domain, he had now lost three of the heroines in his possession. Normally losing three out of thirteen wouldn't be so bad, but it was the fact that those three that had gotten away were some of the more well-trained and ex_perienced _heroines that left him at the slight disadvantage. Supergirl and Batgirl worked in tandem with one another keeping him on the defensive, whereas Jinx with her hexes kept him on his toes at all times and preventing him from mounting a counterattack. With Raven throwing bursts of magic about and Ventus about to join the fight, he smiled as the ultimate clutch move for their kin formed in his mind.

"No matter. I still have a final ace in the hole," the Master of Game said to himself as he blasted the ground in front of him, raising a cloud of smoke in front of himself which he expanded with Zephyr's wind. Supergirl, Batgirl, Jinx, Vent, and Raven separated and stood on the sidelines, none willing to risk falling into a potential trap. A few seconds later and a red beam sailed towards Raven from within the dust cloud, the mage caught like a rat in a trap as she was pulled towards the Master of Game's pendant, the evildoer cackling all the way as the girl struggled to get free.

"Raven!" Vent cried as he leapt into action, just a little faster than the others as he barreled into Raven's side, wrapping his arms around her and allowing the red and white coils of energy to wrap around him before he pushed her out of the way.

"No! Vent!" Raven cried as the aerokinetic was drawn into the Master of Game's pendant.

"Ah hahahahaha! Just as I predicted! The Champion of Champions would throw his meager existence away for but a mere fleeting emotion!" the Master of Games cackled in victory, the brunette's messy brown lochs growing from his own scalp. "Oh, how utterly _satisfying _it is. With his power under my command…" he said as he threw his glowing palms out, concentrated blasts of air knocking Supergirl, Batgirl, and Jinx off to the sides. "I shall reclaim all that I have lost, and _then _some! Soon all the power in the universe shall be _mine_!" he monologue as he began to laugh maniacally, the three girls getting to their feet before they caught the Master of Games' necklace in their eyes, a silver glow as a pulsing nose echoed from within which, after a few seconds, caught the Master of Games' attention as well. "What the-"

"Hey witch! Look!" Jinx called out pointing to the Master of Game's pendant, a glowing silver light emanating from within it as the amulet _**-whum-**_ed like a heartbeat.

_**Whum**_

_**Whum**_

_**Whum**_

_***Cue Gurren Lagann Soundtrack – Libera me From Hell***_

"What?-!" the Master of Games gaped before the glow on his hands began to cease, the messy lochs of brown hair that were now his slowly disappearing as something began to fight against the hold of his amulet. "No! This is impossible! It can't be!" he roared as his hands went to his amulet, only for a blast of wind and an extended hand to shoot from its confines, rays of silver light issuing from deep within before a figure rose up, throwing his head back with another figure tucked into his arms before in a mighty leap he landed upon the atrium balcony.

"Well, Terra, I'm here. Just like I promised," Vent told the blond in his arms, the girl tearing up as she nodded with a smile on her face.

"Impossible! No sentient lifeform could possibly escape from an extradimensional labyrinth!" the Master of Games yelled out.

"Well then I guess it's a good thing you didn't say that _before _then, huh?" Vent laughed with his face resembling that of a cat's, causing further ire to rise from the Master of Game's stomach as he felt the blond's power leave him too, her gloves disappearing from his hands.

"Rrrrrr! No matter!" he growled angrily. "Even now, I still possess the powers of nine heroines! I _will _recover from this, and your power _will. Be. MINE!_"

"Heh. You think saving Terra was all I did?" the brunette asked with a smirk on his face before he raised his left hand. Held within his grip much to the being's shock was his medallion, his hand patting at his chest hoping it was some form of trick or illusion, only to find no pendant where one once was. "JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!-?-!-?-!" the brunette demanded with amulet lazily dangling from his hand.

"No! I won't lose to you a second time!" the Master of Games roared as he lunged at the brunette while firing Star's eyebeams from his eyes, Artemis' arrows from his left hand, and Argent's energy beams from his right. The brunette, tossing Terra to Supergirl who caught the blond with practiced ease, ignored the other girls urging of him to stop trying to be cool and get out of the way before the attacks hit him. At that moment however, a strange tune filled with rapid guitar strokes began to play.

_***Cue soundtrack from the youtube video – **_**Jojo's Bizarre Adventure - WRYYYYYY**_*****_

"Za Warudo!" the brunette announced as he uncrossed his arms to the sides. "Toki wo tomare!" the figure echoed out as the world around them turned dark, the Master of Games seemingly frozen in time as were the laser beams, arrows, and energy blast he had aimed at the brunette, which stopped just short of his face while leaving the others unaffected. "Kurae!" the brunette suddenly called out as five long knives appeared in each hand out of nowhere, of which he threw three sets with similar cries of- "Kurae!" -at the MoG only for them to freeze in mid-air between the two of them. "Roada rollera da!" he called out as he suddenly jumped up into the air, the girls about to look up and follow him before he suddenly dropped a _giant _red steamrollerover the MoG's head with the force of a freight train, throwing his head and arms back while screeching out- "WRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!" –madly before he began punching the MoG _through _the giant steamroller with cries of- "Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!" –with each attack before the final hip drop which caused the steam roller to explode into its base components in all directions, though the Master of Games was still trapped mid-lunge to everyone's shock since having a giant steamroller dropped on you with all the force of a freight train was supposed to _flatten _those whom it happened to. Vent himself at the last second had back flipped off the steamroller before landing with a perfect dismount, crossing his arms and tilting his head to the side before muttering, "Soshite toki ga ugoki desu," time resuming around the Master of Games as the emerald eyebeams shot right past the brunette, the Master of Games about to re-aim only for thirty knives which weren't there before to suddenly fly into his body simultaneously. He was then suddenly slammed into the ground as though a giant steam roller had been dropped over his head with the force of a freight train, which from that point his body was assaulted by over two dozen invisible blows, some of them pushing the knives further into his body before he bounced up, only to be thrown back down by another unseen force and create a massive crater in the floor, a wave of debris sent throughout the entire atrium. With the technique _–even if that wasn't the proper word for it- _completed, the girls present could only gape at the crossed-armed brunette, the Master of Game's pendant dropping out of his hand and to the ground before a brilliant white flash filled the room, the remaining competitors sealed within the amulet thrown about, rubbing their sore heads.

"Whoa…" Supergirl gaped. "Way to go, cutie-" she cheered before he began to fall face first onto the floor, the blond about to zip over and stop him from busting his face before a black bubble of energy suddenly cradled him, slowly turning him onto his back before setting him down, the now-recovered mage walking over to him.

"You know, if I didn't see it for myself, I wouldn't believe what I saw either," Raven chuckled putting her hands on her knees to rest.

"Yeah. Man, wait 'til my cousinhears about _this_," Supergirl said rubbing the back of her head.

* * *

><p>A half-hour later after the competitors that were released forcefully from the amulet had regained his bearings, and the brunette could once more stand by his own power, the gathered girls <em>–and one male- <em>were all in a huddle while deciding how to get home.

"There… Now that all _that's_ over, let's go home," Supergirl said grabbing the amulet by the cloth band, raising it up to the air before it suddenly changed hands.

"Hold on, that's the exact same thing _I _did right before _you _all got into this mess," the brunette said holding it away from himself as though the thing were radioactive. "We have to find a way to get home _and _keep this thing from resurrecting the Master of Games. Because I'm pretty that's what happened after he got his butt kicked last."

"Couldn't Raven use her magic?" Terra asked. "After all, she summoned _Ven _here using that didn't she?"

"That was mostly wishful thinking than anything else," the mage admitted, hiding the blush at the memory of how Vent appeared before her so… heroically. As though his past with Slade was naught more but a fairy tale.

"Then how do you propose we get home?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow.

" . . . I can meditate and see what, if anything, I can do," Raven finally said as she held out her hand to the brunette, who passed the necklace to her which she took.

"You do that… I'm going to take a nap…" Vent sighed as he laid on his back and draped an arm over his eyes, the others going off to do their own things while Raven examined the medallion and plotted a way home.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at the Tower a day later in Jump after Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy rushed to get back home, Gizmo making a break for it once they hit New Jersey's borders, the trio continued to look around the tower in earnest trying to locate their missing friends. Not only did they have to contend with the possibility that the girls had been captured or something during their absence, but they now also had to contend with Ventus having been re-summoned to some parallel world. Most likely by the Master of Games.<p>

"Cy, you sure you can't get a lock on him?" Beast Boy asked as he fruitlessly looked under the sofa cushions.

"I'm telling you man, after he disappeared in Smallville, I hadn't been able to get _anything _on Vent," Cy grumbled as once again he tried to find his friend's biometrics, only to find none. Another dimension _was _kinda out of his service plan.

**Flashback**

In a flash of light, the fourteen young heroes had been returned to Earth after the Master of Games had been defeated. Looking around however, they found themselves in the middle of a four-way intersection in the midst of a rural town amidst the open countryside, the group quickly garnering the attention of everyone in eyeshot, what with their colorful costumes and such. Before things could escalate, Vent quickly stepped in and started herding the others out of the street, trying to get out of the limelight before things got complicated.

"Nothing to see here, folks. Just teen hero business," he said motioning for the thirteen teens around him to get out of the middle of the four-way intersection.

"Dude, where are we?" Beast Boy asked looking around.

"Navigation says we're in the middle of Kansas," Cy said looking up from his forearm computer.

"What's the deal boot-licker? Couldn't get us home?" Gizmo spat.

"Hey, you're lucky I didn't just _leave _you there," Robin growled. "Besides, activating magical artifacts isn't exactly my _forte_."

"C_learly_," Gizmo muttered to himself, a bit of smoke rising off of Robin's head before he forced it down.

"Come on. Let's figure out how we'll get home," Cy grumbled as the two headed for the bus bench to sit down.

* * *

><p>Around a half an hour later after the group had decided on a course of action, the collective of teen heroes <em>–and Gizmo-<em> found themselves at the Smallville Bus Station, the people be they residents or passerby parting and giving the fourteen teens a wide berth, especially Wildebeast, as they made their way to the ticket booth. Given hardly any of them carried money on them while in costume, or at least didn't have any before the Master of Games yanked them into that game of his, Cyborg withdrew a credit card from a slot in his chassis, given the straits they were all in. Dividing into groups based upon which busses took the teens in which directions, the first to visit the booth was Ventus who, with his Japanese-themed outfit, garnered more than his fair share of attention.

"Um… How can I help you?" the man at the counter said nervously.

"Yes, the five of us need tickets for Jump City, New-" Vent said to the man behind the window before there was suddenly a bright flash of light, the brown-haired teen suddenly gone. Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Gizmo flinching, realizing after a few seconds that nothing had happened to _them _yet.

"Think that Master guy messed up?" Beast Boy asked upon realizing they were all still there.

"I don't know, but we may need to call in more professional help if this keeps up," Robin said walking up to the counter, ordering the five- _four _tickets, in Vent's place, to Jump. The only reason they were making Gizmo go with them was because if they just left him here, he'd probably rob the town blind before skipping town. If this problem was going to continue to escalate, they'd have to likely contact the Justice League, hopefully someone like Dr. Fate who dealt with interdimensional being frequently.

**Flashback End**

"I've just contacted the Justice League, but it seems they're dealing with their _own _problems at the moment," Robin grumbled as he leaned back in his chair. While he was on the line, he'd heard quite a lot of screaming, explosions, and the like in the background for several minutes before he had to cut the line. Whatever was going on up there, in a straight-up confrontation he was _sure _they could handle it. Not like the subterfuge that Kadmus had tried to pull in order to get some magical suit of armor and turn it into a weapon.

"Don't they have heroes on-_site _to deal those problems?" Beast Boy asked.

"Maybe it's one of those things that heroes can't solve alone," Cyborg noted, the Tower's security suddenly going off and the three going on high alert. Turning to the front of the room, three columns of sparkling blue and white light radiated before coalescing into four familiar forms.

"Never again! Ne-ver a-gain!" Vent suddenly cried out throwing his arms up as he walked around the coffee table and headed for the back of the room, throwing his legs over the couch as he made his way to his room. "I am _never _setting foot up there _ever again_!" he raged as he stomped off, the door whooshing shut behind him.

"Girls, what happened?" Robin asked, wondering just _how _they'd gotten back as he shut off the security alarm.

"Not in the mood. Need tea," Raven grumbled as she headed for the kitchen to make herself a nice cup of Earl Gray. Her attire and visage looked ragged, so whatever had happened must've been something else.

"Don't ask. Need sleep," Terra grumbled as she threw herself over the couch, facing away from the windows before falling asleep a few seconds later.

"Oh it was most terrifying," Starfire gasped audibly. "We were brought to this Tournament of Heroines and made to fight one another. Had Raven not summoned friend Ventus to aid us, we may have remained trapped in his evil pendant for_ever_," she summarized holding the thing up, which caused Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy to recoil at the sight of it before they realized there was no problem with it now that it had apparently changed hands.

"Huh, I was _wondering _what happened to Vent back there," Beast Boy thought.

"Hopefully we can _avoid_ interacting with people who can bend the fabric of reality," Robin said picking up a newspaper and started reading. While they had been at the Tournament of Game's tournament for two, maybe three days at the most, he was surprised to find out that barely an hour had passed back home while they were gone, showing something similar to a time-differential. It took a day or so for them to get back to Jump, and what confused him was how Starfire, Raven, Terra, and _Ventus _had gotten back to the Tower shortly after they had. The flashes of light were similar to the teleporters used by the Justice League, and he wondered just _what _had happened to the girls after Vent had disappeared, but he figured he could always ask them later. It wasn't like they'd have to ever worry about that pendant ever again, right?

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own Musashi Miyamoto (from the video game, **_**Musashi: Samurai Legend**_**). I do not own Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (Dio Brando's legendary steam roller super combo). I do not own Youtube.**

**Railgun is an OC created by me for use in this FanFiction. Any similarities to any busty red-headed snipers are purely coincidental. **_**Nudge nudge wink wink. **_**As for when she'll appear next, well, I'll leave that up to the imagination.**

**At this moment I'd like to thank _**Raidentensho, Gui, **_**and**_** 26-Lord-Pain **_**for submitting names for the Tournament of Heroines roster.****

**Author's Notes:  
>Like before, I conducted the fights according to who I think would win, taking fighting style, power, and determination to win into account. Matches and match settings were arranged according to both plot application, the Master of Game's learned lessons, and by whatever came to me at the time. I didn't want to do any major overhauls because then I'd be re-writing this chapter for<em>ever<em>.**

**The steam roller combo at the end was because I just felt like doing it. The opportunity was just too good to miss. I also added elements from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Megas XLR if you were able to catch them.**

**For those of you that don't know, the word Sukeban essentially means "delinquent girl" or "boss girl" in Japanese, equivalent to the male bancho which means "boss" in Japanese culture.**

**P.S.  
>As for the little bit from TFS Dragon Ball Z Abridged episode 3, bet you didn't expect <strong>_**that **_**to crop up again did you?**


	28. Don't Touch that Dial

"That really _happened_?" Terra asked trying to stifle her laughter. "Dude, that is hi_larious_!" she said patting Beast Boy on the back as the two of them watched an explosive episode of Mythbusters. Pun intended.

"Not for _me_! I can _still_ taste electricity," the changeling moaned as, even after a week later the unique "flavor" of electricity still laced his taste buds. "By the way, what happened to _Vent_ after he got pulled away like he did. He mentioned _something _about never going _somewhere _ever again, but I could use a little more context."

"Well…" Terra said nervously, the holographic screen flickering to crackling static to her right out of her notice. "Ven kinda asked that Raven and I never talk about it. It's… kinda embarrassing," she said scratching one of her cheeks, both of which were a little red at the memories. "Hey what's with the TV?"

"I dunno," Beast Boy said as he started pressing at the remote's buttons, none giving him the intended results as the screenful of static winked out for a moment, momentarily replaced by a badly distorted black-and-white shot of a face. The changeling thought there was something _familiar _about the face with its broad fat cheeks and sunken beady eyes, but soon there was only a single dot on the screen that usually appeared when the screen was shut off.

"Nothing is wrong with your television. Do not attempt to change the channel. Your regularly scheduled program will not be seen because I am controlling the transmission," a voice said from within the TV screen as a myriad of gradually clarifying mugshots appeared, the screen soon shifting to a single dot once more outside a wave of static. "I control the horizontal. I control the vertical." The dot formed a horizontal line, which then rotated 90 degrees to the right. A moment later a set of pudgy fingers forced themselves out of the screen from beyond the darkness, pushing both halves apart. "And those buttons on your remote that don't seem to do anything? I know what they're for! From this moment on, your television belongs to me – Control Freak!" the television tyrant cackled madly all the while.

"Um…" Terra said looking down at the program in her hands. "I don't think that's part of the program," she said as she leafed through the weekly article. Call her old-fashioned, but even in a world where the machines have yet to remind us of the fact that they run our lives, she preferred the feel of paper between her fingertips. Despite how bulky her gloves were, her hands were actually quite delicate underneath. "Best Boy? Hello?" the geokinetic asked as, looking up from her TV program, all she found was a blinking Beast Boy-shaped segmented outline of him. "Where'd you go?"

The next moment a Tower-wide alarm began to go off, red siren lights flashing causing her to look around. Simultaneously across the Tower, the other Titans heeded the call to action in their own ways; Robin broke away from his heavy-bag workoug in the gym, Cyborg slid out from underneath the T-Car in the garage, Raven put out the flames of the candles she had been meditating around with a wave of her cloak, Starfire rushed to the Ops Center from cultivating her Zorkaberries, and Vent dropped off the roof before vaulting into the living room from the outside, Terra opening the window from the inside while Beast Boy shepherded the others inside.

"In here! Hurry! Now!" the changeling cried as he frantically waved his arms.

"Best Boy! What's the problem?" Robin asked as he came into the room.

"The _Mijo & Tito Show _was a rerun, so I flipped it over to watch _Mythbusters_, but it wasn't on 'cause there was this little blue dot and this _**BEEEEP**_, and his voice was like "I control the vertical." Then the dot got real big, and Control Freak has taken over out TV!" the changeling explained exasperatedly.

"Um…" Cyborg deadpanned as he pointed to the TV screen/window, a scene from _Bass Nabbers _playing.

"Dude! Where did he go?" Beast Boy asked as he frantically flipped through the channels. "Terra! You saw him too right? Tell them!"

"Um… I don't really know _what _I saw," the geokinetic admitted nervously.

"Hey uh, BB…" Vent said getting his attention. "You sure you haven't just been watching a _liiitle _too much TV?" he asked holding his fingers an inch apart.

"It rots your brains," Raven said plainly with crossed arms. She had just been in the middle of contemplating the meaning of life when the changeling pressed the ALARM button after all. Truth be told, life had no _set _meaning apart from what each individual made of it, but since hers was so relatively short...

"Yeah, man. When was the last time you turned off the tube?" Cyborg asked.

"Um… I think I went out to the movies three weeks ago," the changeling said after a moment's thought.

"Uh, I wish to remind you that you did not actually go to the movies, but merely observed a television program about a person who _went _to the movies," Starfire clarified.

"Oh yeah. That was cool," Beast Boy said with a dazed look.

"Riiiight," Robin drawled. "Look, Beast Boy, Control Freak _can't _be on TV. He's locked up in jail where he belongs, remember?" he asked, only for the TV to cut off to the news program.

"We interrupt this program for _breaking _news. Authorities have just discovered that the dangerous criminal known as Control Freak has escaped from prison," the news anchor with the badly-situated toupee said as the mugshot of the overweight criminal showed, then a broken wall and chain appearing over it. The number that Control Freak carried was designated as **257-325**, similar to a production number for a TV show episode.

"What did I say?" Beast Boy asked exasperatedly.

* * *

><p>A few minutes later everyone had managed to squeeze into the T-Car, Beast Boy forced to assume the guise of a hamster and sit in the cup holder while Robin rode in the R-Cycle, leaving enough room in the team van for everyone to fit; Cyborg planned on either modifying the T-Car so it could accommodate at least seven people, or just rebuild it with a larger frame in general. Apparently, reports had been coming in from all over the city about Control Freak being sighted on over a dozen TV screens in the last half hour, the team heading to where the signal was being broadcasted from so they could put a stop to it. The TV-addict had already given one old person a heart attack with his sudden appearance, and they didn't want to try their luck. Eventually the team was able to pinpoint Control Freak's location, finding themselves at Cook's Electronics.<p>

Entering the now-vacant store, the interior was dark and quiet as the team looked around, he walls covered n television sets and broadcasting a soap opera. Robin and Beast Boy approached a big-screen unit playing an episode of _Power Rangers Samurai, _Cyborg and Vent going off in one direction and catching an episode of _Unchained Reaction_, pausing to watch momentarily, while Raven and Terra came across a wall of monitors playing a mindless soap opera which, the two turned away from. At one point the shape-shifter assumed the form of a wolf and passed by a science fiction film, the changeling sitting on his haunches as he began to drool, wagging his tail as the two poorly-orchestrated copies of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader dueled one another with laser weapons.

"I don't care how powerful you are, Baron Ryang! I won't let you win!"

"Foolish human! Have you forgotten that _I _control this star system? Have you forgotten that soon, I shall control the entire universe?"

"Hello!" Control Freak suddenly popped up on the screen, causing Beast Boy to freak out and fall over. "Enjoying the shot, Titans? Might as well just sit back and watch – 'cause you're _never _gonna catch me!"

"So _this _is Control Freak?" Terra asked jabbing a thumb at the screen as it was replaced with static.

"I guess. He's pretty much like Jump's version of the Joker, only instead of having a prank fetish, he has an obsession with TV shows," the brunette responded. He'd actually _seen _the Joker once. While his less morbid slapstick _was _pretty funny, the ones involving knives and other sharp pointy objects left something to be desired.

"We _will _find out where you're hiding! It's only a matter of time!" Robin shouted at the screen.

"Who's hiding?" he asked as he hopped onto the next screen. "I'm right here! Or am I here? Or here! Or over here!" he said as he hopped between screens. "Or maybe here!"

"The Control Freak is a dork, yet?" Star asked.

"He's in the building. Find him," Robin ordered as the team began to look around.

"He's not inside the building…" Cy said checking his forearm-mounted scanner. "He's in_side_ the TVs!"

"How the hell is _that _possible?" Vent asked.

* * *

><p>Watching an old security feed from a day ago, the team watched as in one of the back rooms, Control Freak had assembled a gigantic version of his Demonic Remote, the over-sized channel-changing device hooked up to dozens of television sets, a large generator, and a device with a satellite dish on the top. Laughing as he approached the large red button on the front end, he went on about how "We have the technology." before slamming his hand on the button, a flash of light enveloping him before his likeness appeared on all the TV screens, the addict going on about how he was "on the air" with an insane cackle.<p>

"Well that's _one _way to break into television," Raven said plainly. She never _was _too big a fan of TV. Not when there were good books around.

"He turned himself into a broadcast waveform, and now he's flipping around from channel to channel," Cyborg said examining some of the machinery a few minutes later after they broke into the back room where Control Freak had been holing himself up in.

"Control Freak hasn't just escaped from jail. He's escaped from _reality_," Robin surmised.

"Huh?" Beast Boy questioned in confusion.

"He means Control Freak somehow bypassed the Law of Equivalency and turned his flesh-and-blood body into radio waves," Vent summarized, Beast Boy giving an "Oh," in response as he dropped his fist into his palm in understanding.

"Got enough high-end equipment here to break half the laws of physics," Cy said as he overlooked the remote.

"Can you reverse the process – pull him back out?" Robin asked.

"Think so. Just need a little time to-" was as far as he got before Beast Boy stupidly pressed the glowing red button, a bright flash of light enveloping the team, seven screams ringing out as everything went black.

* * *

><p>"Ven… Where are we?" Terra asked as everything suddenly cleared up, the blond clutching to the brunette's arm nervously as she and the others looked around. The wall at their back was green, two yellow podiums equipped with buzzers behind them, a hosts lectern set between them.<p>

"I have _no_-" Vent said before the sound of applause met his ears, "idea…" he deadpanned as he began to get an idea of where they were.

"Well hey there everybody. Hope you're as excited as I am, because you're the next contestants on… _Quiiiz Monkey!_" the show's host, wearing the ugliest orange-and-green suit combo said coming on-screen as he waved to the audience.

"Beast Boooy…" Vent growled beating Robin to the punch, the aerokinetic preferring to be _anywhere _else at that point in time than where they were _now_.

"Uh… my bad," the changeling said as he sheepishly scratched the back of his head.

"Alright, we need to find Control Freak and get back out of-" was as far as Robin got before he was abruptly thrown off-screen by the host, who put an arm around Starfire's shoulders.

"Alright young lady. Fifteen seconds on the clock. Each correct answer wins a _faaabulous _prize. Zero answers… puts you in the cage with the Quiz Monkey," the host hastily explained as he pointed to a lovely young model standing by an object hidden behind a cylindrical curtain, which was revealed to contain a cage holding a large, screeching baboon that probably had rabies. The audience sheered wildly at the sight, while the unwilling contestant's eyes went as wide as softballs. "What's the capital of Liechtenstein?"

"Uh…" _**BZZZ**_

"When did Hannibal cross the Alps?"

"Uh…" _**BZZZ**_

"What was Spiro Agnew's middle name?"

"Hmmm…" _**BZZZ**_

"How many atoms in one kilogram of oxygen?" the host asked in succession, the question mark above Star's head growing until that last question left his lips, a happy gasp leaving her lips which showed she knew that one cold.

"Three-point-seven-six-two-five times ten to the twenty-fifth!" the Tamaranean answered, the host scrutinizing his card before declaring-

"That is corr_ect_!" The answers to the prior three questions were Vaduz, 218 BC, and Theodore. "You've just won... a new _car_!" he announced pointing to an orange curtain which rose to reveal a brand spanking-new cherry red convertible, the engine purring like a kitten and Star as giddy as a schoolgirl.

"All right then, Titans!" Control Freak said suddenly popping up behind the wheel from out of nowhere. "You followed me in- now let's see if you can keep up!" he said peeling out of the show.

"Titans! Go!" Robin ordered as he and the others hightailed it to exit right, leaving a stunned host and hostess behind. Within the next minute, the Titans ran through a news studio, a _Booya Energy Drink _commercial, a scene from _Bass Nabbers_, until they eventually came upon the boondocks in the ass end of the south.

"I _knew _I'd hear banjo music on the way into the south!" the brunette cried out as Starfire carried Cyborg past the red convertible, the alien girl then throwing him at the car with a savage yell. Moments later, four-hundred pounds of flesh, bone, and bionics slammed onto the car hood-first, T-boning it into the ground and, unfortunately, destroyed Starfire's _braaand new car_.

"End of the road!" Cyborg growled as he confronted the couch potato his air bag deflating.

"Tell that to them _Hooten _boys!" he said in Southern drawl, the couch potato bailing out as Cy whirled around, coming face-to-face with a pair of rednecks sailing off the end of the ramp in a red muscle car that came right at him. Vent rushed in to knock him out of the way, but one-seventy or so doesn't exactly trump four-hundred.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"What the? Where the hell _am _I?" Vent asked as he looked around where he had suddenly found himself after he had barreled into Cyborg, whom was then barreled into by a muscle car driven by a pair of rednecks; a small dark enclosed space, unable to even see his own hand in front of his face.

"**Go, Dice Roll!"** a voice suddenly said from outside the enclosed room.

"What the fuU-UU-UU-UCK!-?" the brunette cried as his enclosed space was suddenly tossed about, yelping out startled cries and obscenities as he was tossed like a salad until eventually coming to a stop, flat on his back with his limbs and neck splayed out in an awkward position.

"**Dimension the Dice!"** the same voice from before said as the enclosed space opened up, the brunette having to cover his eyes when the light poured in. When his eyes finally adjusted, he found himself in a lowered arena composed of square-shaped tiles, a pair of raised platforms colored red and blue situated over him.

_Oh _hell _no… _Vent groaned as he looked around, realizing just _where _he was.

"What the-" the spiky-haired teen with sharp eyes standing in the blue platform above him said as he looked at the strangely-clad monster he'd been able to summon on his first successive Summon.

"Huh. Don't remember creating _him_," the spiky-haired teen on the red platform with the diamond-patterned headband and the die-earring said rubbing his chin as he looked at the brown-haired teen in civilian clothing and a black-and-yellow sling bag over his shoulder that his opponent had managed to summon.

"Oh HELL no!" the brunette on the field suddenly yelled out, surprising everyone around since holograms weren't supposed to talk. "I am NOT waiting four episodes for this whole mess to reach its conclusion!" he shouted before he suddenly took to the air, completely bypassing the vacant field in lieu of attacking the headband-wearing teen directly. "AIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIAIYAH!"

"AHHHH! This is NOT part of the rules!" Duke Devlin cried out as the monster Yugi Muto had summoned was somehow able to attack him directly, completely bypassing every rule he's painstakingly created. And those punches _hurt_! Holograms were _not _supposed to be able to do that.

"Uh… Does that mean I can take off this dog suit?" a Brooklyn-sounding voice asked from the background when the fight cloud shifted off the red platform.

"More importantly, does this mean I win?" the remaining spiky-haired teen asked with a sweat drop on the back of his head, the cheerleaders off to the side freaking out as their respective crush was beaten by the strange Dungeon Dice Monster.

Little did the brunette wailing on the game designer know that his other teammates were, at the moment, stumbling through every odd channel they could come across; Raven and Robin found themselves covered in a sloppy mess after landing in a low-budged Barney-imitation show featuring a man in a blue pig suit, Beast Boy in coyote form was chasing Control Freak in something reminiscent to the old Road Runner cartoon, Cyborg running for his life from a hail of bullets in a commercial for a first-person shooter, Starfire finding herself on a historical program dressed like a southern bell, while Terra had inadvertently found herself in a shampoo commercial and desperately covering her modesty.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Where did he go?" Robin asked as Control Freak had just gotten away from him and Raven while they were atop the Eifel Tower in a spy movie.

"Perhaps he has flown away to some place less creepy and bad-smelling," Starfire said as she casually tossed off a wide purple sun hat with a large feathery plume.

"Yeah. What kinda nasty old show is _this _anyway?" Cyborg asked as Vent and Terra finally made their way back to the party, the latter's face beet red as she tried to cover her midriff, shooting Vent nervous glances every couple seconds.

"It Came From Jones Lake," Beast Boy said with wide eyes and a soft gasp. "Dudes, I've seen this before. We're not in a _TV _show. We're in a _monster _movie!" he said looking around the black-and-white foggy swamp. Moments later the murky water behind the team began to bubble glutinously, Beast Boy ducking behind Robin while Terra ducked behind Vent as a large fish-like monster with a very wide mouth rose from the murky water, letting out a guttural roar. At the roar, Starfire let out an ear-piercing scream, the others sans Cyborg too scared to move or react.

"Chill out y'all, this is TV! The monster's not real, it's just some dude in a _costume_," Cy said as he pat the thing's chest for emphasis, only for his eyes to pop in surprise when he got a feel for the texture. "That's not a costume."

"Yeaaah _that _figures," Vent deadpanned while Terra clutched onto his arm. Post-declaration Cyborg was yanked off his feet and chucked across the lake, a flurry of starbolts exploding against the thing's head and forcing the creature to raise its forearms in defense, the frill on the back of its head glowing before it launched a white beam out its mouth and at Starfire. The alien girl managed to dodge, Raven raising the submerged roots to snare the thing's arms and legs. At the same time, Beast Boy post-hawk had transformed into a rhino and charged at it headlong, the creature breaking free of the roots at the last moment and catching him before throwing him at a bug-eyed Raven, the four-ton Titan coming right at her. Thankfully at the last moment, Vent swooped in and pulled her out of the way while Terra summoned what mud she was able to in order to break the rhino's fall.

"That thing may be _fake _in the real world," Raven stated as the brunette set her down.

"But it's way _real _in this one," the changeling said as he wiped the mud off himself.

"Then it's a good thing he's not our target. We need to find Control Freak," Robin stated.

"Titans! Split up!" Terra suddenly declared with her fist in the air, earning odd looks from the others around her. "What? Can't someone _else _say something dynamic once in a while?" she asked, earning a shrug of shoulders before everyone split apart, the seven finding themselves in separate chapters.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Vegeta! What does the scouter say about his power level?" a half-nude bald hulk of a man asked a short man with spiky hair wearing white and yellow armor above a yellow jumpsuit.

"It's over nine-"

"Yoink!" Control Freak suddenly said as he dashed onto the scene, snatching the scouter out of the spiky-haired man's hand before he shot off into the distance, reigning in a brief moment of silence.

" . . . What the hell'd Yajirobe do to his _hair_?" a bald monk with six dots on his head then asked.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Great? Where the hell'd I end up now?" Vent asked flying through a blue sky with puffy white clouds, nothing in sight for miles from what he could tell. Not even the ground, which came off as a bit odd, but at least it was better than being a cube-shaped Capsule Monster. The next moment a trumpet-lined tune reached his ears, almost as though it were coming from everywhere at once.

**Susume! Yuuki no hata kakgae  
>Nanatsu no umi wo kakuenukero<br>Ichi ka bachi ka Muteki na kaze  
>Kimi wo michibiku<strong>

"Hold on… This sounds oddly…" _**-THUD- **_"Famil…iar…" Vent groaned after getting a face-full of Gokai Galleon straight up the… face.

"Did we just hit something?" an eccentric-looking Japanese man wearing an ascot asked from the crows nest, the man standing next to him wearing a red captains coat simply shrugging his shoulders dismissively.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Geez. Where'd I end up _now_?" Beast Boy asked looking around. There were massive trees towering into the sky, almost like a jungle, but more like a coniferous forest. "Drat, I can't see the corner logos to see what channel I'm in either," he said looking into the screen's corners, or what he _thought_ were the corners, unable to see the logos that would normally be there.

"The Velociraptor is a genus of dromaeosaurid theropod dinosaur that existed approximately 75 to 71 million years ago during the later part of the Cretaceous Period," a voice like David Attenborough spoke out of nowhere, surprising the changeling as his eyes darted all around the room. "Hunting in packs, they are capable of stripping a creature of its flesh within mere _hours _after the kill."

"Oh boy…" Beast Boy shuddered as he slowly backed away, only for the back of his head to come into contact with something cold and scaly, twin jets of air blowing his hair forward a moment later. Turning around slowly, he came upon a brown-scaled velociraptor, its forward-set eyes gazing at him before its muscles began to tense. "AAAAAAAAAAH!" the changeling screeched as the chase bega-

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Man, where'd I end up now?" Cyborg asked looking around. He was clearly in the wastes, the ground colored red to orange and rocky with dust-filled winds blowing about, stone plateaus rising up in the distance. A tumbleweed rolled past him, causing him to wonder- "Did I end up in the History Channel or what?" he asked before the sound of a siren went off. Tapping into his arm-mounted communicator, he tried tapping into the being-used frequencies, catching something on the high band.

"The area within a thirty mile radius is a designated Zoid battlefield. This area is now restricted: Only competitors and personnel have authorized entry. Danger: All others must leave the area at once," a synthetic male voice spoke. "This zone is now restricted. Danger."

"A Zoid's battlefield? I didn't think they were showing this show anymore," Cyborg noted aloud.

"Area scanned. Battlefield: Set up. The Blitz Team versus the Tiger Team. Battle Mode: 0982. Ready… Fight!" the Judge Capsule robot said crossing its arms, the two teams of zoids firing their armaments at one another moments later.

"Wait wait wait! I'm still here! I'm still-" Cy gaped before a stray missile came flying right at him. "Gyaa-

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"I wonder where I am," Terra said as she walked forward in a warm sunny climate similar to that of California. "Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be on one of Wipeout's summer episodes," she said walking forward absentmindedly until she found herself on a small flat stage, three surfboards with two colored blue and highlighting **Wipeout **to her back.

"So, what's your strategy going to be..." a woman with wavy brown hair, currently dressed in a loose tan blouse with a brown **Y-**shaped collar and black pants asked, fishing for a name.

_Thank you, God, _Terra silently thanked recognizing Jill Wagner from when she and Vent watched the show a couple days ago. "Terra, and _my _strategy is to run like hell. You can say that on TV right?" she asked nervously.

"No problem with that," the brunette returned.

_"Yes," _Terra whooped under her breath. "Hey, can I give a shoutout to a friend of mine?"

"Sure," Jill said holding out the mic to Terra, the blond grasping the woman's wrist before shouting out-

"Hey Vent! Hope you're watching me right now!" the blond said giving a two-finger salute. "Now, which way to the padded obstacle course?"

"Right this way," Jill said waving the blond off to the side, the girl running off to win that prize money.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Okay… _That _was freaky," Vent panted out as he walked down the hall of an alien space ship, having just gotten back from the DBZ Bardock Special where he had snatched Frieza's scouter off his smug face in a fly-by right before the space tyrant had blown the planet up. "Wait a minute, _I _know where I am now," he said recognizing the texture of the materials around him. "I'm on the planet _Namek _during the Frieza Arc. Oh shit!" the brunette said as he quickly ducked into a side door, one of Frieza's patrols passing, most likely to investigate the noise. When the immediate danger passed, he let out a sigh of relief as he found himself in an empty room, not looking forward to one of those clichés where the hero steps out of the hallway and into one room, only to run into more enemies than he would've had to deal with _originally. _Opening up one of the wall panels, the only thought he could think was-

_Thank god that freaky alien genotype keeps a few minions around in my size._ At that the brunette stripped down to his skivvies before pulling on a blue bodysuit, then slipped on the shoulder-less torso armor with white gloves and boots. Pilfered scouter on the left side of his face and he could pass himself off as any denizen of the DBZ universe if he just gave himself a convincing enough name. _Thinking about it I guess I can't just leave this stuff here, _he said referring to his old clothes, thankful that he had his sling bag with him that time around. While it slightly ruined the whole Saiyan Armor motif he had going, it was better than fucking up the anime universe, or worse, making the anime gods _absolutely livid._

_Still, if I remember correctly, then Zarbon should be getting back with Vegeta right around now, _the brunette thought to himself, a grin that would make Frieza, Cooler, and King Cold pale in its wake stretching across his face. _Hahaha. This will be fucking awesome, _he thought as he headed to the healing pods.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Master Hagadash, of the classic miniseries _Invasion X_, I am ready to begin training," Control Freak said sliding across a Japanese dojo bearing black banners mark with large red **X**s. He now stood next to a gray-skinned creature with one large red eye in the center, four tentacles radiating outward and wearing a white kimono. "I am ready to begin the training."

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"I already told you, I don't' have time for this!" Robin growled from the stern of a speedboat addressing two men, one with blond hair and one with black. At the moment he was wearing a pair of red water skis and a red life vest.

"Ah, don't chicken out now, mate," the blond said holding up a yellow rod. "The wor's watching _Stunt Fest _to see eye-popping stunts, and that's _just _what they're gonna get," he said handing it to Robin.

"I'm not going to-" was as far as he got before he was pushed off the boat and into the water, the boat steering him towards a very high ramp. Jumping it, he was suddenly flown over clear water, or at least it was clear until a huge shark leapt up ready to take a not-so-healthy _–for Robin- _bite out of him.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Oh, Lance," a beautiful brunette woman in a red dress cried out as she turned to not Lance, but Cyborg who had found himself on the soap opera. "I didn't mean to make you fall madly in love with me," she cried as she leaned against his chest, eyes full of tears. "But ever since Joaquim left with my evil half-sister-"

"Yo! I don't love you! My name's not Lance, and I just need to know if you've seen a fat guy in an overcoat!" Cyborg said quickly.

"Oh Lance!" the brunette cried before giving the cyborg a long, passionate kiss, the door to the back opening revealing Joaquim who could only say-

"What the-"

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Hey, Appule, you've been relieved of duty," Vent said coming into the medical ward, red scouter gleaming, unintentionally signifying that he was a higher-ranked soldier. Color was based entirely upon rank in that universe, or at least those under Frieza's jurisdiction, which meant effectively everything.

"Right, thanks," the purple-skinned alien said walking off, leaving the brunette alone with the sleeping Vegeta in the Bakta Tank.

"_*twee~t*_ Is this thing on? Is it on?" Vent said tapping the glass like a mic, getting a gurgled response from the Saiyan prince at the stimuli. "Oookay there you go. Ah-ha-ha-hem. You are _now _thinking about what Zarbon did to you while you were unconscious. Have _fun _with that," the brunette chuckled as he tiptoed off, Vegeta's vitals beginning to flare wildly right as he made it out of the opposite side of the door. _Now to get the _fuck _out of here, _he said before looking for the nearest exit before the shit hit the fan.

Within moments, Vent was outside Frieza's ship, and just in time to hear the explosion of the Saiyan prince blowing up the healing pod before tearing into Frieza's forces like a fat guy through a buffet line. Waiting and watching for a few minutes, he saw the main window blown up before five orange spheres with red stars in them were chucked out the window as though _Superman _had thrown them. Then again, anyone with a power level of above 100,000 could probably take him down real easy. It was hard to tell. A human's basic power level was a 5, and a _very _skilled martial artist's was at 100, while Appule's was around 6,000.

Of course, that didn't say much for him in _Canon_ now _did _it?

"Well, I think my work is done here. Better go before Frieza or Vegeta find me," the brunette thought to himself, hoping to get "off screen" as soon as physically possible.

Meanwhile back inside the ship, or at least a few minutes prior to Vegeta chucking Frieza's balls, Frieza and Zarbon had run up to the infirmary where Vegeta once was, Appule coming back from his break expecting the brunette's body to be sprawled out after a blast like _that_, only for nothing to be there.

"What the _hell _happened here?" Appule asked, Frieza and Zarbon coming up to him moments later.

"Appule! Who the hell told you that you were relieved of duty?" Frieza demanded.

"W-Well…" he said trying to collect his thoughts so the space tyrant wouldn't vaporize him. "H-he had an older-style Saiyan armor, swept-back brown hair, crimson eyes, a sling bag across his back, and a red scouter like _yours_," the purple-skinned alien returned, Frieza's brow furrowing in confusion at how that sounded _so _familiar before his eyes widened, a memory from the destruction of Planet Vegeta flashing into his mind where some… thing, had just shot past him and snatched the scouter right off his face before disappearing completely.

"I will _fucking _murder him!" he shouted as the events immediately prior to vaporizing Planet Vegeta came to mind. "Try and take my own scouter right off my face will he? Well _we'll _just see how smug he is when I tear him _limb _from _fucking limb_!" the freaky alien genotype shouted.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Hello? Anybody?" Raven asked coming into a very dark area under two groups of spotlights, the two usually found in large stadiums. The next moment a football sailed neatly into her hands, prompting a curt- "Nice." –out of her. The next moment two-dozen beefy football players suddenly tackled Raven from all sides.

"Oh! That _had _to hurt!" the sportscaster announced with a laugh. "Let's look at the replay, Chuck."

"You know, I'm not sure _why _a Teen Titan is on the field of a championship game," _Chuck _said as the circle drawn around Raven disappeared, the scene freeze-framing at the point right before Raven was tackled. "but this is just a _great _defensive play by the Steel City Tigers," he announced as a big circle with multiple arrows pointing at Raven was drawn. A moment later the freeze frame ended, the group of players falling on her only for the frame to freeze again, her unconscious face drawn to stand for the person at the bottom of the dogpile.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Dude, those were three of the baddest bad guys ever – and we _totally _kicked their butts!" the changeling whooped after Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and himself simultaneously defeated the creature from Jones Lake, Seven-Gorn-Seven, and the Offworld Outlaw. They were now situated in a large Japanese-style dojo.

"But we still haven't found Control Freak," Robin interjected.

"_Or _Vent and Terra," Raven said looking around, taking note of their absence.

"True, grasshopper, but I have found _you_!" Control Freak said sliding in front of the team, his clothing and accessories now in shades of gray and black, his shoes different from before and steel wrist guards on. "And guess what? I know kung fu. Whoa," he said like Keanu Reeves in The Matrix.

The couch potato propelled himself off the floor for a leap that thumbed its nose at the law of gravity, just as Reeves did in the movie, as he came down in a shrill cry to kick Robin away. Without touching the ground the fat yo-yo caught Cyborg with a spin kick that drove him into a support beam and shattering it, smoke trailing from the boots giving way to jet thrusters as he did a spinning handstand into the air before diving. Starfire prepared to let him have it, but he bounced off her head before she could fire, the mage at her side creating a platform above her head which the couch potato shattered with an aerial stomp before bouncing up again, yanking her cloak over her head before twisting it around as he dove away. The confrontation ended with Beast Boy flat on his face and Control Freak without a scratch on him.

"I'm not just some nerd you can push around anymore. Thanks to the magic of television, I now possess a black belt in Astro-Jitsu... the Bionic Hero's rocket boots… Benthar's wristbands of power… and Captain CAleel's infamous gravo-blaster!" he said performing a few alien kata, hovered briefly, created an energy ball over his head, and reached out for an orange blaster with a yellow lightning bolt running down the side. "I also swiped the Saiyan Prince Vegeta's scouted right off his smug face," he said pulling out the red-lens Scouter and setting it onto his face.

"And in _English_?" Raven asked as she straightened her cloak.

"He's one _seriously _bad dude," Beast Boy balked.

"Hasta la vista, Titans!" the couch potato said slipping on a pair of sunglasses similar to those worn by Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, his voice similar to T-800's. At that moment he shot himself out of the building with his rocket boots, the others chasing after him.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Five hundred channels!" Robin balked as he and the others sans Ventus and Terra, _still_, stood in front of a scrolling program grid. Whatever Beast Boy had in mind had better have been good, because they were starting to run out of time, and he was _not _going to lose out to a couch potato with a souped-up remote.

"And _still _nothing on," Raven sighed. After Control Freak's escape from the Dojo, the team had chased him across a skyscraper, a cooking show, a kiddie show featuring a hat-wearing pelican and a hippo, and Jones Lake. To top it all off, Control Freak's interference with the TV signals was causing the release of dangerous alpha waves which would _literally _rot the brains of anyone watching.

"He could be anywhere!" Cyborg cried out as Beast Boy perused the shows unblinkingly, the changeling's eyes suddenly widening before he pointed-

"There!" he said pointing to- "The Space Network is having a _Clash of the Planets _marathon. If I was Control Freak, and I am _so _glad I'm not, that's where I'd be."

"Please, this _Clash of the Planets _is…" Starfire asked with a pause.

"Only the greatest sci-fi series ever _made_!" Beast Boy argued, Cyborg retching as the changeling went on this tirade about how it had inspired an entire "generation" of "fans", and how it was a "way of life".

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

"Beast Boy, I don't think this is Clash of the Planets," Robin said as the team found themselves in a back alley in what looked and sounded like Manhattan, just a ways away from Times Square.

"Hey, I'm not like that couch potato Control Freak who can go into whatever channels he wants. It's _his _remote," the changeling quipped back.

"Can we just go before we get sidetracked," Raven asked before the sound of a car being smashed caught her attention. "Sorry I asked," she sighed, prompting Beast Boy to peek his head around the corner, his eyes going wide as dinner plates and his jaw dropping before he blurted out-

"Robin! We _have _to go out there! I may never get another chance like this to live out one of my life's greatest fantasies!"

"Beast Boy, we don't have _time _for this!" Robin shouted back. "Control Freak's still on the loose, and Vent and Terra are still missing. How can you even _think _of goofing off at a time like this?"

"Hey man, Control Freaks' been leading us by the nose this whole time," Cyborg interjected. "I say we loosen up a bit before going after him. C'mon, it'll be fun."

* * *

><p>"Any last words, arachnid?" a pudgy man with four metallic arms sticking out of his back said as he tapped his fingers together.<p>

"Homina homina homina comes to mind," a black-clad teen with a white spider insignia on his chest responded. Before the fighting could begin however, a number of smoke pellets went off behind him, the wall-crawler and the Sinister Six looking into the smoke as five figures stepped out.

"Dudes, you may've _thought _a six-on-one battle would finally take down Spider-Man," a green-skinned teen in a black and purple jumpsuit said as he stepped out of the smoke.

"So, you going to come quietly…" a spiky-haired teen dressed like a traffic light asked.

"Or are things going to get _loud_?" an African American cyborg asked as he stepped out of the smoke, an orange-skinned girl in purple and a floating girl in a blue cloak stepping out of the smoke behind him as the smoke cleared, revealing six super-powered teens to match the Sinister Six.

"Doc, you never told us Spider-Man had backup," Electro said distastefully.

"This was _hardly _part of my calculations," Doc Ock growled at his plans being derailed so horribly.

"They're just a bunch of stupid _kids_. I say we show them their _place_!" Shocker said as he fired a sonic weapon at the line, the cyborg whipping out his right arm and firing a blue-and-white sonic blast of equal intensity, meeting the blast head-on.

"Titans and Spider-Man! Go!" Beast Boy shouted as he and the others charged into battle, the web crawler taking a few seconds to process everything that had happened before swinging into the fight as well.

"Looks like we're evenly matched _boy_," Shocker said as he and his cybernetic opponent poured it on.

"Oh you did _not_ call me WHAT I THINK YOU JUST DID! HRAAAGH!" Cyborg growled with a couple centuries' worth of racial fury before priming his second sonic cannon and firing it at the evil cowboy wannabe. The southern-sounding villain fired his second sonic weapon to intercept the beam, however a metallic whine and Cyborg's beams widened, overtaking Shocker's and throwing him back, his ears ringing madly.

"What're _you _supposed to me?" Vulture asked dryly as the orange-skinned girl floated in front of him. His answer however came when the girl let out a feral roar, a pair of emerald-colored eyebeams shooting out and clipping the senior's left wing. He quickly flew off before he lost the ability to maintain altitude, the orange-skinned red-head on his tail and throwing more alien softballs, his new suit getting clipped apart before she caught up and grabbed his ankle, throwing him downward into the back of a car with a loud _**CRASH**_.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven intoned, foregoing any pre-fight banter to get right to the point, dredging up a few water mains from beneath the street before they pumped out their contents onto the sand man and turned him into mud. Just for the record, the contents of the main wasn't water.

"What're _you _supposed to be? A traffic light?" Electro asked dryly as his electricity flared.

"What're _you _supposed to be? A _spark _plug?" Robin quipped in return, said "spark plug's" eyes narrowing before he let an electric blast loose, the martial artist leaping out of the way before whipping out a pair of birdarangs and threw them through the air, Electro missing both of them before they caught him on the rebound, his fury rising before he loosed more bursts of electricity, Robin leaping out of the way of them as the attacks caused the cars in their wake to explode. Grabbing a disc from his pocket, Robin threw it low across the ground before it came to a stop at the electrokinetic's feet, his eyes going to it before there was a brilliant flash and they widened. When the light cleared, he was completely encased in a block of ice.

"You better stand down Rhino or I'll kick your butt!" Beast Boy said facing the man towering over him, as well as everyone else in the area.

"What're ya gonna _do_, green bean?" the man asked with a cocky smirk, the changeling smirking in return before he transformed into a fierce T-Rex, a guttural roar ringing through the air, a girlish scream following as the rhino-like man made a break for it, jurrasic-era dinosaur following shortly behind.

"I didn't know you had teammates," Doc Ock growled as he and Spider-Man faced off.

"Funny, neither did I," Spider-Man said before he leapt into the fray, not wanting to let these newcomers steal his thunder.

* * *

><p>"Ahhhh. Now <em>that <em>was refreshing," Cyborg said cracking his knuckles after he laid the smack down to Shocker for calling him "boy". You do _not _call a black guy that.

"Can we go now?" Raven asked tiredly.

"Spider-Man, I'm your biggest fan! Can I get your auto-GWAH!" Beast Boy cried as Robin yanked him away by the back of his jumpsuit.

_**-KSSSSSSSSSSH-**_

After battling the Sinister Six and finally figuring out how to navigate through the five-hundred-something channels, the team found themselves in a long metal corridor like on the inside of a space ship. Looking around the corner, Beast Boy made a string of hand signals to bring the rest of the Titans in, but got so caught up in it he didn't notice they'd passed him until they already had.

"Hey! I remember this scene! We're in the first episode of Season Four," he said recognizing where they were, though only because BB forced him to watch it with him when it came out. Vent on the other hand had been napping on the roof at the time and, as the changeling learned after being thrown over the side of the roof, you do _not _interrupt Ventus during his naptime.

"How do you know we're going the right way?" Robin asked.

"'Cause we just passed the engine core, which means we'r right below the detention level. So all we have to do is follow the main particle flux conduit to the galactic command center," the greenette answered as he led the team along.

"Frightening. Truly frightening," Raven stated plainly. He knew _way _too much about what was going on around him.

"Friend Raven, I am still worried for friends Ventus and Terra," Starfire said taking note of the two's absence. "Where do you think they could have gone?"

"I don't know. I can't really sense where they are in here," the mage said as she looked around, the group suddenly stumbling upon a hall occupied by a group of spindly yellow robots with blasters.

"Identify yourselves!"

Four of the five present Titans got their fists and projectiles ready, whereas the team's on boob-tube addict simply walked around Raven and caught her flat-footed by swiping her cloak, revealing her leotard-clad form to the viewing masses before he threw it over himself and started on about his Obi-Wan Kenobi _Jedi Mind Trick _impression. That however went as well as expected, as the robots soon began firing upon them.

"Worth a shot!" Beast Boy cried as Raven snatched her cloak back from him, reminding herself to send him to Hell later for so-blatantly exposing her like that on TV.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the bridge, Control Freak, or "Count Roll Freakow" as he addressed himself after he kicked Baron Ryang off the catwalk he and the COTP Boy had been fighting on, had just finished dispatching said hero <em>–if that word even <em>applied _to him-_ when the Teen Titans suddenly stormed the bridge.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as he and the others charged forward, absence of two sevenths of the team be damned.

"There can be _only_ one!" Control Freak intoned as he raised his dual-bladed laser katana into the air, energy discharging off of it before he went on the offense like no one's business. Smacking both Starfire and Raven away with a pair of flying roundhouse kicks, Cyborg was the next to face him, only for the couch potato to slash a steam pipe in half and buffet the cyborg out of the way. Robin leapt off the nearby wall and threw a quartet of exploding discs at the TV-tyrant, only for him to run out of the way sidelong. The two proceeded to race across the bridge neck-in-neck, Robin smirking and throwing a sarcastic wave after a few seconds. Control Freak stared at the spiky-haired Titan confusedly, only to fun face-first into a barrier courtesy of Raven right in his path with a resounding _**THWANG**_!

Losing his helmet in the fall, Beat Boy then went all T-Rex on him and was about to take a bite out of him, only for the couch potato to clap his headgear back on with a sneer, firing a grappling hook around the dinosaur's snout. Snapping it shut, the changeling then assumed human form with the line coiled around his lips before being yanked to the floor. Starfire quickly lobbed a series of starbolts at Control Freak while Raven ripped an entire console from the wall and did the same, the TV-addict dodging the first, slashing the second in half, as well as every other heavy object that came his way.

"Your powers are insignificant next to the power of _Control Freak_," he said extending an open palm toward a distant bank of computers behind him, suddenly tearing it loose by his own power before he sent it flying, Starfire taking it head-on while Raven put up a shield. After the two were left bruied under the wreckage, Robin swept in and kicked the double-bladed laser katana out of Control Freak's hand. Landing in a crouch, the spiky-haired teen could only gape as Control Freak recalled the weapon handle to his hand, dual blades extending before he had to dodge a punch from Cyborg while Robin drew his staff. Cyborg swung madly at Control Freak, only for him to weave around the attacks before kicking him away, Robin coming in with his bo staff only for Control Freak to slice it into thirds. He then flew at him in a half-speed scream, Robin and Cyborg running at him in half-speed only for the timeframe to resume and Control Freak kick Robin in the chest before somersaulting backwards and pushing off of Cyborg's back, driving him into the floor.

In that time, Beast Boy was able to remove the tether from around his lips , leveling an irate glare at the evil TV-addict equivalent to him who chose that time to retract his twin blades, almost dismissively of Beast Boy's power. Eyes twitching, Beast Boy transformed into a trumpeting elephant, Control Freak seemingly ready for it as he placed his blade at his side and his hands together. Beast Boy charged at his opponent with a screech of primal fury while Control Freak gathered an energy ball between his hands with a savage scream. Unfortunately, all Beast Boy's bravado got him was a deafening _**BOOM **_and a trip onto the steps behind him, changing back to human form while Control Freak was no worse for wear.

"Foolish snot-colored human," Control Freak sneered. "Even for all your faunal shifting, none have the power of a twelfth-level space samurai. Even _if _all your team was here, it would make no difference to my-"

_**Whoosh**_

Caught mid-sentence as the bridge door opened, a brilliant white light pouring into the room and an ethereal song rang through the air, the fluttering of a half-dozen dove's wings echoing into the quiet bridge air as everyone stood awestruck. Soon the footfalls of metallic shoes rang through the air as a silhouette began to step forward, the light soon giving way to a brown-haired figure wearing an orange visor over his eyes, which when opened were revealed to be a sharp crimson with the eyes of a trained marksman. He was covered neck to toe in a dark blue bodysuit, a white set of shoulder-less armor over his chest, a set of blue elbow-length gloves with silver half-spheres on the backs of his hands with yellow lines on his forearms, a pair of black metal shoes with brass ankle bands on his feet. In his hands was a long navy blue weapon over four feet in length shaped like a sniper rifle, an energy cell with black-and-yellow hazard stripes beneath the stock, and a triple-lensed scope on the top, a pink strap set over his shoulders where he held the weapon slack at his right hip.

"Yo. Sorry I'm late," Vent said stepping into the bridge as the light, song, and doves flittered away. "I may've had a _liiitle _trouble finding my way around. Not that I don't mind I mean. At least I had fun along the way before I finally found my way here."

"How'd your _hair _get so long?" Beast Boy asked noticing that the brunette's hair had now gotten down to his shoulder blades.

"A lot can happen during timeskips," the brunette said shrugging his shoulders before he leveled the end of his weapon at Control Freak, whose eyes narrowed and he limbered up his hands before he shifted his left foot forward, right back with knee bent, his left hand going around the weapon's barrel right in front of the scope while he let the stock hang by his right hip, the apparent-suppressor on the end going nothing to snuff out the _**KRA-HSSS! KRA-HSSS! KRA-HSSS! **_that preceded the firing of an electric blue bolt of energy out the end, all of which crackled with electricity. Control Freak crossed his arms in front of himself and deflected the bolt to the ceiling which left a trio of inch-wide hole that punched through the ceiling and into the void of space, the air being sucked out before a bulkhead came down and stopped the leak of oxygen.

"Dude is that…" Beast Boy awed as the brunette pulled back the rifle's slide lever, a red and gunmetal grey shotgun shell with a low _**cli-IING**_.

"She is one _hell _of a slave driver," the brunette said plainly as though it answered the question on everyone's minds, when all it did was raise more answers.

"Dude, those are the Jetbootsu aren't they?" Beast Boy then asked pointing to the kicks on the brunette's feet, who simply responded by levitating an inch above the ground with the soles of his feet glowing gold. "Dude, how'd you get _those_?"

"You know that's a funny story actually…" Vent trailed off as he tapped his chin.

**~Flashback Start~**

Japanese music was playing, a stone spire rose up into the heavens, and a veil of cloud was swirling below. Moments later, a red-head wearing swirl-patterned yellow goggles and gothic clothing was _literally _walking up the side of the mountain, a pair of black metal shoes with brass-colored guards around his ankles parting the mist. If you paid close enough attention, you could see golden-colored fields of energy emanating from the bottoms of the shoes.

"You know this is a Showdown, _right _Kimiko?" the gothic-dressing boy asked as he lazily looked over his shoulder. Down below and climbing up the side of the spire was an Asian girl with her hair styled up in pigtails, a red tunic and white pants bound by a black slash climbing up the side of the spire barehanded.

"You know those boots make you look like a _dweeb _right, Jack?" the girl asked, though clearly out of anger more than anything else.

"So not the case," the boy now known as Jack said nonchalantly. "These Shen Gong Wu, the Jetbootsu, allow me to defy gravity. You might as well say _bye-bye _to the Monkey Staff, because that one's as good as mine," he said with a confident smirk as he headed for a wood and brass-colored staff with a spiraling feral monkey figurehead on the top of it.

However what happened next was com_pletely _unexpected.

"Hi there," a floating brunette wearing an old-model saiyan armor, a red scouter, gold-trimmed blue gloves with clear blue domes on them, and a navy blue rifle on his back said suddenly appearing out of nowhere and stopping the redhead short. "Ooooh. Nice shoes. Mind if I borrow them?" he asked, yanking them off the redhead's feet before he could voice an answer. "Sorry, I'll bring these back later, thank you," he said with a smile before flying off seemingly by his own power, Jetbootsu in hand. Jack Spicer then realized what had just happened, flailing and screaming like a little girl as he fell past Kimiko, the Xiaolin Showdown ending prematurely.

"Um… What just happened?" the girl known as Kimiko asked as she found herself back on the ground with her friends, the redhead in a Jack-shaped indention in the ground.

"Was that guy… wearing a Scouter… and Saiyan Armor?" Jack also asked from his position in the ground. "I just got jacked by a Saiyan!" he cried in protest before a wide grin pulled at his face. "Du-hu-hude! I just got jacked by a _Saiyan_!" he said with a shit-eating grin pulling at his face.

"Who is it that is _saying_?" a yellow-skinned monk asked, a Brazillian boy with brown hair slapping his forehead moments later.

**~Flashback End~**

"And that's why I'm wearing the Jetbootsu. The end," Vent said ending his tale, the others wide-eyed at his tale for a few moments before Beast Boy spoke up.

" . . . How'd you know about the part you weren't even there for?" Beast Boy asked poignantly, the brunette's expression turning flat before he raised his right hand to the changeling, both it and his eyes glowing silver before he began curling his fingers into a fist, almost as though he were crushing something. For a few seconds nothing happened, but soon Beast Boy began grabbing his throat and flailing around, falling unconscious a few seconds later.

"Did you just use Force Choke on him?" Cyborg asked, having recognized what the brunette was doing when the changeling began to clutch at his throat.

"No. I just made it so he only suffocated a tiny bit," Vent said holding his fingers an inch apart.

"So, the prodigal son of Deathstroke the Terminator at last graces me with his presence," Control Freak said coming back into the conversation, shaking his wrists from having to deflect that railgun-like attack.

"To set the records straight, I'm not his son, I'm his ex-apprentice," the brunette stated as he removed his sling bag from his back, tossing it to Starfire who caught it, while Beast Boy was beginning to drool at the iconic weapon the brunette was holding. You put a gun like that in the hands of a busty redhead who wears next to no clothing, and the image tends to stick. "But enough about me. I've got just as much goodies from this TV-Land as you have, so why not save yourself the trouble of embarrassing yourself on TV and give up."

"Give up? HA!" Control Freak laughed maniacally. "Just 'cause you picked up a few trinkets and baubles, doesn't mean you can match me with the training _I've _had."

"I didn't _just _pick up "trinkets and baubles,". I also _learned _a few things!" the brunette interjected. "I have learned the Goken from Maito Gai of Konohagakure no Sato, been versed in the ways of Aura by Sir Aaron of Cameran Kingdom, learned marksmanship and bojutsu techniques from Yoko Littner, and acquired the tyrant Frieza's red scouter, as well as a set of old-generation armor," he said performing a few powerful-looking kata, let chaotic blue flamed dance across the palms of his gloves, swung the sniper rifle around above his head and aiming it, then tossed said Scouter in his hand before slipping it into his bag, getting into a fighting stance that highlighted his armored form.

"You may have acquired a few things through the _anime _channels you visited, but I have yet to reveal _all _I am capable of," Control Freak said with a sneer as he shifted his feet on the ground, placing his arms at his sides as he hunched forward slightly, his mouth agape as he let out a low growl, the bridge beginning to vibrate as the air began to turn red around him. Within moments, his roar gave way to a bright red aura that shook the air around him; the Power Up technique commonly seen in Dragon Ball Z and other like shows.

"Oh so it's going to be _that _kind of battle huh?" Vent asked as he too assumed the staunch stance, a low roar escaping his lips that gradually increased in magnitude, slivers of silver air rising around him before bursting into a full-blown aura around him, his hair whipping behind him and the waves of power rolling off him created sparks against that of Control Freak's.

"Bring it!" Control Freak shouted as he and Vent lunged at one another, the brunette catching his opponent's extended leg with his forearm, a loud **_CLAP _**and a sonic boom resulting before the two suddenly disappeared in a blur of speed, too fast for the human eye to trace. The next moment there was another _**BOOM**_across the bridge, then everyone's heads whipped to the side when another boom followed in the opposite direction, a chain of sonic booms and shockwaves echoing across the bridge before the two separated, both panting heavily with fading aura surrounding them. "So your Strong Fist is capable of matching my Astro-Jitsu eh? Well then, how 'bout we _kick it up _a notch! **HRAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!**" he roared as the red aura surrounding him suddenly increased in magnitude.

"Bring it chubbo. **GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!**" he roared as he too raised his aura, the two powering up and whipping everyone's hair back, random machinery _-except for Cyborg- _bursting all around from the pressure as the colliding energies began to create ripples of electricity across the bridge. The two bodies soon began to release surges of bioelectricity into the air, their muscles beginning to bulge until they were 50% larger than before, then 100%. Their skin soon became slightly redder due to the increased bloodflow, their auras no longer flowing upwards but outward, and the discharges of bioelectricity becoming more frequent and prominent as their muscle size had increased to the point of practical ridiculousness. While Control Freak was about as muscular as a sumo wrestler, the brunette was as muscular as Cyborg _portrayed_, the team's present females blushing at the sight of Vent's ripling muscles shifting beneath his bodysuit like tectonic plates, whereas Robin and Beast Boy were made to feel _greatly _inadequate. "KAAA... MEEE... HAAA... MEEE..." the teen then said as he shifted into the Hadoken pose, a ball of white energy forming in his hands, and Beast Boy's eyes lighting up instantly.

"FINAL..." Control Freak roared as he held his hands above his head, a brilliantly-glowing ball of purple energy appearing in his hands.

"HAAAAAAA!" Vent roared as he threw his arms forward, a massive white and blue beam fired from his palms.

"FLASH!" Control Freak roared as he fired a typical beam attack from his hands, which nonetheless met Vent's head-on, forming a massive sphere that was slowly overtaking the bridge. However, like in every one-on-one fight in Dragon Ball Z, the antagonist's beam soon began to overtake that of the protagonist's, Vent falling to a knee as his opponent's beam began to overtake his.

"Rrrrrr... Aaaaaah..." Vent struggled to hold on. "Guys! Get out of here!" the brunette shouted as he tried to hold on. "I can't... hold on much longer!"

"You outta your mind? He's putting off enough energy to blow up half the ship!" Beast Boy cried out as he flailed his arms wildly. Whenever attacks of that magnitude clashed, everything in the immediate viscinity _always _got blown up.

"We're a team, and we're going to stick together!" Robin cried as he and the others ran up to Vent, the spiky-haired teen running to Vent's side and steadying him while Beast Boy supported him from behind. Cyborg fired his sonic cannons into Vent's Kamehame ha while Starfire did the same with her star and eyebeams, Raven adding her own dark energy into the mix. Soon the attack began to bleed into a mixture of white, black, and green surrounded by white rings, the attack beginning to push back against Control Freak's, the sphere of energy in the middle soon beginning to be pushed back against the TV-addict. The couch potato tried valiantly to pour more power into the attack, but a final roar from the Teen Titans caused the Combined Kamehameha to completely overtake both Control Freak's technique and the villain himself, a cry leaving his lips as the world turned white around him and a massive beam of energy burst out the front of the bridge, a massive hole carved in the front before a series of bulkheads came down and stopped the flow of oxygen, a few more consoles being torn from the walls and plugging the last of the holes.

"Vent, are you alright?" Raven asked after everyone had collapsed, helping the brunette to his feet as his ridiculously-oversized muscles finally receeded, his spiky hair running limp down his back, the teen letting out raspy breaths after the overdose of energy finally gave out.

"Yeah _*pant* _I'm _*wheez* _fine," the brunette panted heavily, thankful that while in the TV world after visiting Dragon Ball Z, he was able to expend Ki and not his own lifeforce. Shame the only time he could use actual beam attacks was in there. He doubted when he left that he'd be able to keep _all _his power.

"But what're we going to do about Control Freak? Didn't we just vaporize him?" Cyborg asked pointing to the window that had been hastily barricaded after the beam that you could probably see for thousands of miles was loosed.

"Please, things are _never _that easy," Beast Boy groaned, the bursting of the ceiling above them signifying someone's return to the bridge. When the bulkheads went down, the bridge beginning to resemble swiss cheese, a beaten-and-battered Control Freak with the majority of his clothing missing and his eyes bloodshot was revealed.

"You know what, Control Freak?" Vent asked as he regained enough strength to stand by his own power. "As much as Beast Boy would probably _love _for us to have a long drawn-out battle spanning two-to-fifteen episodes, I'm pretty much running on fumes right now, so I'll just tag Beast Boy in."

"What? _Him_? What can _he _possibly do?" the battle-damaged TV-addict asked as the brunette's extended hand was slapped by the greenette.

"Ha! HA I say!" the greenette cackled while twirling a finger above his head. "If you'd watched Clash of the Planets as many times as _I _have, you'd know that a twelfth-level space samurai can be banished by the null dimension by the Hop Joon Chang!" he said as a pocket protector poppt out onto his chest and he hiked up his belt to his armpits, braces appearing on his teeth and a cowlick atop his head as thick square tape-mended classes appeared on his face. Basically, the archetypical sci-fi nerd.

"Don't think I'll act like every anime villain ever and simply _let _you do that!" Control Freak said tiredly sticking out his tongue. Sitting atop the folds was an irregularly-shaped elongated red crystal the color of blood. If you looked closely enough _-which no one was willing to-_, you'd see the faces of the tormented and suffering trapped within.

"SHIT! Beast Boy he's got Kimblee's Philosopher Stone!" the brunette cried out recognizing that shade of red.

"SAY WHAT?-!-?-!" the changeling cried out as the TV-addict held the red stone between his teeth, sticking his gloves in his pockets revealing a pair of circles drawn onto his palms. A downward-facing triangle was on his right hand with the symbol of the sun while an upward-facing triangle with the symbol of the moon lay in his left palm. "EVERYBODY RUN!" the changeling cried as the TV-addict threw his palms forward, a wave of explosions heading right for the team.

_**CLA-A-A-AP HSSSSSSSSSS**_

The next moment like liquid mercury, the blue-green metal of the bridge rose in front of the team before reshaping itself, a massive raven born of metal, pipe, and curcuitry rising to intercept the explosive wave as it spread its wings, the wall of steel holding strong against the assault. When the dust cleared and everyone looked up, the group looked up on shock to see that right behind the guardian raven was the mage herself, hands pressed to the ground and arcs of alchemic energy dancing around her fingertips, eyes narrowed in concentration before she rose.

"Raven... You can perform circle-less alchemy?" Beast Boy gaped while Cyborg's jaw was barely hanging onto his face at the display, Robin a little intimidated while Starfire was wondering what the changeling was referring to. At this Raven thought as to just _how _she had become able to do what she did. Whether it would carry over to the real world or not was up to debate at the moment.

**~Flashback~**

"Where am I?" Raven asked as she looked around where she had found herself. Her surroundings were white in every direction, and she couldn't tell if she was in a room or some kind of void. At first she thought she was merely on an empty channel, but channels with nothing on are black. It's more cost-effective to simply let the screen remain black than illuminate it to white after all.

_**"Greetings, envoy of the end,"** _a welcoming and jovial voice suddenly said to her, the mage whirling around to face that which managed to sneak up upon her. The sight that greeted her was a white silhouette with grey subtones, similar in shape to herself, down to the hood that covered the top half of its face, surrounded by a strange black haze that made it possible to be discerned from the rest of the world around her. What was most unsettling was that the thing did not have any eyes, and in place of _her _mouth was a large toothy grin that did _not _go with her body. _**"I see that The Gem has made its way into my realm before the Day of Prophecy."**_

"Who are you?" the mage asked with narrowed eyes, growling when she realized there was nothing around she could use if it came down to a fight.

_**"I am what some people call God. I am also the universe, I am the world, I am one, I am all, and most importantly, I am...**** you,"** _he said pointing to the mage. The gleaming smile on a face that looked like hers simply wasn't natural.

"What do you want?" Raven asked dismissively, lest she have attention called to her hubris.

_**"Oh, it isn't what **_**I** **_want, prodginal child of Azarath,_**" the being before her spoke, causing her eyes to widen at how she was addressed. _**"It's what **_**you _want that brought you here to me._"**

"Hold on... I recognize you now. You're the watcher of some gate on a TV show Beast Boy and the others watch," Raven said finally recognizing where she was during the times she'd look up from her book. "You're Truth, from Fullmetal Alchemist."

_**"Oh? Is **_**that _what those humans have decided to call our story in your dimension? Honestly, I thought humans would be more _creative_ than _that_._"**

"You speak as though you're _real_ and not part of a _TV _show," Raven said with crossed arms.

_**"What the humans of your realm interpret as**_** "creativity", _is in actuality a psychic connection beyond the veil that separates our worlds from one another,_****" **Truth spoke in a condescending tone towards humans. Not that he was wrong in his way of thinking.

"Wait a minute... What was that you were saying about what _I _wanted?" Raven asked with a raised eyebrow.

_**"You want to change your fate don't you? Spare the little wind-user you like the fate that lies in store for your**** reality,"** _Truth said causing the mage to bristle, then blush heavily. _**"Your answer lies beyond **_**there_,_" **he then said pointing behind the mage, a large stone gate that floated a foot above the ground that wasn't there a second ago now towering over her. Engraved into the top was a mural of her homeworld of Azar, below it a likeness of her with her cloak spread, but four eyes within the cowl of her hood. From the folds of her cloak the likeness of her teammates appeared, though a large crack was present upon Terra's face, and at the bottom was a mural of Titans Tower on its island in Jump City Bay.

"Hold on, don't I have to pay some kind of _toll _to go through there?" Raven asked catching _only _so much from whenever she'd look up from her book to see what was going on.

_**"Your trip through The Gate was arranged upon the prophetic moment of your birth. Your voyage **_**now**_** is merely both delayed, and**_** early. _The only difference however is you'll be coming _out_,_"** Truth said before the gates began to open with a low groan like stone grinding against itself, a single large eye with concentric eyes snapping open from beyond the abyss as a number of shadow-like ethereal hands suddenly snaked out from the darkness before wrapping around her, the mage struggling against the pull as she was hoisted off her feet. _**"Say hello to your father for me, and remind him that if his plan fails, that he'll have to pay the toll with his **_**own _life,_" **Truth said as the mage was slowly pulled into The Gate, the girl trying to force her way out of the darkness only for her hands to slip away from the sides of The Gate at the last moment, the doors sealing with a low _**THUD **_that echoed throughout the realm.

**~Flashback End~**

"God. Is a cruel. Manipulative. Bitch," Raven said with narrowing eyes as she remembered her harrowing experience with the Gate of Truth. Honestly if she ever told _anyone _about that, despite the fact that she _was _a superheroine, they'd probably think she was nuts and throw her in the loony bin. A part of her was fantasizing about Vent galavating through security like a knight in shining armor to rescue her before the two rode off into the sunset. She isolated those thoughts for the time being.

"_Oh _so it's going to be _that _kind of battle is it?" Control Freak asked with a growl before he re-created his clothing in a flash of alchemy, his helmet lost as he drew his beam sword, which looked worse for wear and likely to give out with enough force placed against it.

"Yes." _**CLA-A-A-AP**_"Yes it is," Raven said as she placed her hands on the ground with a loud **_HSSSSSSSSSS_**, a gothic-looking scmitar with a raven ornament in the hilt being alchemically created from the floor, an empy channel between the blade. Soon like liquid metal, a layer of dark energy flowed through the gap before lining the blade, which when struck by Control Freak, created sparks instead of simply bisecting the weapon. "Your weapon works through the vibration of energy and light particles. However, when introduced to a substance whose molecules are vibrating at similar frequencies, resistance will be met."

"Oh, so you did your _homework _then. And here I thought all you read were smelly old _books_," the TV-addict sneered as he pushed back against Raven. However, due to the power expended from Vegeta's Final Flash, his strength was lower than it was _before _he learned Astro-Jitsu, giving Raven the edge. A few sword slashes later, in a juvenile move, Vent crawled behind Control Freak's legs, the obese teen falling backwards while Raven jumped off his back and dove down at her opponent through the air, Control Freak screaming like a little girl as the blade came down to his face before it impacted the ground at the side of his face at the last moment.

"Beast Boy, NOW!" Raven called out as she leapt away from her opponent. At that prompt Beast Boy stomped his foot onto the floor, his hands over his head as he began to rub them together while chanting- "Hop Joon Kang… Hop Joon Kang… Hop Joon Kang…"

"NOOOOO!-!" Control Freak cried as he quickly got to his feet before lunging at Beast Boy. Before he could reach him however, bolts of lightning from all directions to struck him, a brilliant flash of light following. When the light cleared, he was now back in his normal outfit, stripped of all his gear and confined to a square-shaped panel. "But… but… but this is _my _world! I'm _cool _here!" he cried as he banged on the panel as it spun around, whirling about to face the changeling who had defeated him. "You guys can't win!"

"Dude, this is television. The good guys _always_ win, and you are _so _not the good guys," Beast Boy said strolling up to the TV-addict, who could only twitch madly. Meanwhile in the background, the COTP Boy and his red-and-yellow robot hugged in the background, Raven pleading to Cyborg that he knew the way home. She'd had enough TV to last her a lifetime.

* * *

><p>"Well, I guess this whole experience proves it really <em>is <em>bad to watch too much TV," Robin said the next morning in the living room as everyone downed a cup of coffee or tea after their night's work, his statement causing Beast Boy to pull his head down.

"But truthfully, we only prevailed _because _Beast Boy watches too much the television," Starfire spoke up, causing Beast Boy to perk up at the stroking to his ego.

"So there really _isn't _a lesson here," Raven stated sipping her tea. She hadn't _tried _using her alchemy once she got back to reality, but everything she'd seen was still there. As for _what _she saw... it was a little hard to interpret if you looked at it as a whole. Like trying to mentally assemble an entire puzzle without looking at the individual pieces first.

"Yep. It was all com_pletely _meaningless," Vent said from his own spot on the couch, now stripped out of his saiyan armor as he polished the sniper rifle/rail gun. Before leaving TV Land, Cyborg used his new understanding of Control Freak's remote to send Vent along the route of his "tour", and while he was able to return the Jetbootsu and Aura-conductive gloves, the rifle he had gotten from Yoko on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann wasn't _her _rifle, so there really wasn't any need to return that, and Frieza wasn't going to be missing that old Scouter anytime soon. After getting back out, his Aura, Ki, and Alchemic powers disappeared, though his newfound martial arts skills and marksmanship skills stayed.

"Hey, at least we got some cool new gear out of this," Cy said as he tinkered with the red scouter and attempted to translate the characters into English.

"_And _a fifty-thousand dollar check," Terra giggled as she hugged the giant novelty check to her chest. "Who knew running padded obstacle courses could be so much _fun_!"

"Yes, but I do not believe there are any giant banks in Jump in which you can cash it," Starfire then inetejrected, the others staring at her before chuckling at the girl's naiveté, the redhead giggling into her hand after a few moments when she caught onto the joke.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>In summary, I do not own anything except the OC Ventus. It's just easier to say what I don't own instead of accounting for everything I **_**do**_**. Also for the record I'm not a big fan of Duke Devlin (English Dub), he came across as a bit of a whiny douche.**

**Author's Notes:  
>On note of Vent acquiring Sir Aaron's aura-conducting gloves and the same-model Rail GunSniper Rifle as Yoko from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, the answer is the same as Control Freak getting all the stuff he had. Off-screen. For obvious reasons Vent had to return the gloves, and boots, but as for the scouter, armor, and sniper rifle, who's gonna miss those? It isn't like they don't get blown up plenty anyhow. Or at least the DBZ stuff. The sniper rifle/rail gun was given to him; off-screen of course. The reason he actually _kept _some of the stuff is due to the same logic of Cyborg being with that soap opera chick at the end of the episode (Season 3 Episode 1). Even if it was just a gag, I'm running with it.**

**Anyway, I thought it would be funny for Terra to be included, yet not **_**completely**_** included in this episode, so I had her drop into Wipeout. Normally I wouldn't have thought to do this, but I remembered her and Raven mud fighting once, so I figured, why not put her in a setting with lots of mud?**

**As for Raven's conversation with Truth, if you've watched Justice League, you'll understand what I mean if you've seen the episode I have in mind.**

* * *

><p><strong>Oh, here's a little treat for those of you who understand somewhat how the power level system in DBZ works. These are just rough estimates, and are in no way "canon" since circumstances can change.<strong>

**Teen Titans  
>Robin: 115 (Enhanced Human Parameters &amp; Martial Arts)<br>Starfire: 1000 - ? (Tamaranian Physiology/Unknown Upper Limits of Emotion-Based Powers)  
>Cyborg: 250 – ? (Cybernetic Enhancements &amp; WeaponsUnknown Upper Limit of Human Spirit)  
>Beast Boy: 15 – Varying (Somewhat-Trained "Human" AbilityVarying Fauna Power Levels)  
>Raven: ? (Magic Unable to be Measure Properly)<br>Ventus: 116 - ? (Enhanced Human Parameters & Advanced Training/Unknown Upper Limits of Aerokinetic Ability)  
>Terra: 8 - ? (Basic Human PhysiologyUnknown Upper Limits of Geokinetic Ability)**

**And just for laughs and giggles, here's a few Justice League power levels. Like with the Teen Titans, they're entirely up to speculation/interpretation.**

**Justice League ("Big Seven")  
>Batman: 250 (Enhanced Human Parameters &amp; Martial Arts)<br>Superman: 3000 - ? (Kryptonian Physiology and Superpowers/Unknown Upper Limits)  
>Wonder Woman: 2500 - ? (Amazonian Physiology &amp; ArmorUnknown Contribution of God-Forged Weaponry)  
>Green Lantern: 50 - ? (Marine-Level SkillUnknown Upper Limits of the Green Lantern Ring)  
>Hawk Girl: 450 (Thanagarian Physiology and Nth Metal Mace)<br>Martial Manhunter: 2750 (Martian Physiology, Density Manipulation, Super Strength, Shapeshifting, etc.)  
>The Flash: 1250 – 3000 (Super SpeedFlash's max speed from his fight against Lex Luthor/Brainiac)**

**Like I said, this is all up to speculation. Superman's probably the only one in the DC Universe who can even **_**try **_**to compete with Goku, but only because we've **_**never **_**seen the fullest extent of his power. One wrong move and he could probably punch the Earth in two. Sorta like the Hulk that one time he became so powerful he could sink the entire East Coast with a single footfall.  
><strong>


	29. Terra Firma: Terra's Decision

**First chapter since the "PURGE SOURCE" update I made a few years back. Had a bit of writer's block for a few of the fight scenes here, and the chapter overall has changed alot from the initial draft I had in store. Familiar faces are to be seen for those who recognize, but with that being said, I leave the reading of this chapter to you very capable readers.**

* * *

><p>Slade's forces were on the move, a small army of drones marching out of an isolated complex in the middle of the woods overlooking Jump City to the west. The complex was divided into multiple buildings, a single radio tower with a number of dishes mounted on it for data transfer and communication purposes, the windows reflecting the deep violet of the sun setting in the distance. With the guards and scientists knocked out in their wake via surprise attack, the one in the center of the formation, a large metal canister with a streak of hazard stripes running down the side in its arms, did so unopposed as they blasted their way out of the nearest wall. Upon stepping out however, the left half of a Sladebot's face was soon taken off by a red-and-yellow projectile, the thing shaking a fist angrily at the one who threw it before a bullet of air tore through the air and out the back of its head, the automaton falling flat on its back as the boomerang-like weapon returned to its owner's right hand.<p>

"Tell Slade the Titans have a message for him," Robin said as he leveled his gaze at the small army of robots.

"Eat dirt!" Terra shouted as she sent a small avalanche of rocks their way, a few Sladebots being crushed while others were able to get out of the way.

"Titans! Go!" Vent shouted as the team of seven rushed in, the brunette butterfly kicking and creating a "wheel" of air that he stood on like a surfboard upon landing, lowering his goggles onto his face as he approached the first Sladebot. Instead of running it over however, the teen simply extended both hands forward in a spear-like shape, the "air wheel" bisecting his opponent straight down the middle and discarding the halves to the sides as he passed. To his immediate right Robin rode one of Terra's flying boulders before flattening one Sladebot and roundhouse-kicking another. Before the automata could retaliate, Starfire flew overhead and carved a groove across the ground with her eyes, which a moment later detonated inexplicably and threw them in all directions.

"Terra! Catch!" Raven called out as she levitated a stone as large as a semi over her head before throwing it to the geokinetic, the blond catching it with her own power as the mage's waned before she lobbed it through the air, flattening a trio of robots while the others got out of the way.

"Thanks a ton," the blond replied as she dusted her hands.

"Closer to _two _tons actually," Raven quipped in return, creating a shield in front of herself a moment too late to avoid being blasted backwards. Terra was about to move in to help, but she too was blasted off her stone platform by a laser attack. While Raven had landed in the arms of the brunette as he rode by being carried bridal style, Beast Boy went absolutely _ape _on anything that got too close to the blond after she fell. The two of them had a sweet, if not strained moment, before the team scattered for one last charge.

Little did they know however, that the electronic eyes lining the field were capturing every detail of the fight, even as they were being "gouged" out. Robin's staff-fighting skills were broken down in a flurry of computer readouts, the fluctuation of Raven's magical energies was catalogued, the speed, accuracy, and power of Starfire's starbolts were tabulated, Beast Boy's rate of transformation was timed, and the power and energy levels of Cyborg's sonic canon was analyzed. When the electronic eyes were turned to Vent, they calculated the sharpness and speed of his aerokinetically-manipulated wind as he sliced yet another Sladebot in half, this time with his air wheel being used like a hula hoop. Last but not least was the blond, the rate at which she could move earth in relation to its size also analyzed to the decimal point.

* * *

><p>A few hours later at the Tower, Robin, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, and Terra having ridden in the T-Car back to base while Star flew alongside Vent in his new air scooter <em>–based off of Tenzin's from the new Avatar sequel that came out-<em>. The team had gathered in the living room for a take-out pizza buffet, the group overlooking the last slice of pizza in the box surrounded by half-eaten fragments and bits of crumbs, cheese, and the occasional stray slice of pepperoni.

"And the last slice of pizza goes to…" Cyborg said as he spun the slice around like the spinner on a board game, the point coming to a stop at- "Terra!"

"All right!"

"Whoooo!"

"Your are the winner!"

"Congratulations."

"Way to go!" were Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven, and Vent's reactions. The next moment a sight gag consisting of a stadium-packed-with-cheering-fans backdrop played out, Cyborg dressed like a sportscaster with a microphone in his hand, interviewing Terra who was dressed in a white and blue football jersey and pads with a large blue **T** on the front. At the moment the girl was holding a golden trophy with a slice of pizza atop it.

"Just a rookie, and already you're an MVP holding the coveted Four-Cheese Trophy. Terra, the world wants to know. How does it feel?" the sportscaster asked pointing the mic at Terra's face.

"Um… good… and kinda greasy," Terra replied nervously. The next moment a loud applause blared, Robin and Starfire both suited up as terra's teammates hoisting her up onto their shoulders.

"Seriously Terra, great job tonight. We're glad to have you on the team," Robin said as the mic in Cy's hand was placed on a jointed boom and shifted to him.

"And we are most mirthful to claim you as our friend," Starfire cheered in return.

"Yeah. What they say," Raven, dressed as a cheerleader bearing her team's colors, said giving her pompoms a lackluster shake.

"You rock Terra!" Vent whooped with the left and right side of his face painted white and blue respectively, a large blue-and-white **T **painted on his chest as he held a sign above his head with a picture of the letter **U**, a rock, and a doodle of Terra's face on it, Beast Boy in the guise of a puppy bounding onto Starfire's head and licking the blond's face.

"Thanks guys, really, for everything," Terra said bashfully. "But you shouldn't… I'm just doing my job, you know? No big deal."

"Well it's a big deal for us. Good friends don't come along every day, you know?" Beast Boy asked in return, causing the blond to smile. At the same time Cyborg approached the door, a small panel opening up to reveal a handprint reader, which he placed his palm onto before the screen lit up and showed a schematic of the Tower and assorted systems, a few sectors lighting up in red as the lights shut down and he yawned widely.

"All right, y'all. Titans Tower's locked up and Cyborg's shutting down," he yawned tiredly as he left the Ops Center/living/dining room.

"We should all get some sleep," Robin said as he got up from the couch. "We may have stopped Slade tonight, but we need to figure out what he's planning tomorrow."

"Night," Raven said as she phased through a portal on the wall.

"Pleasant schlorvaks!" Starfire returned, which probably meant "Pleasant dreams!" in her language.

"Nighty-night, Terra," Beast Boy said as he headed down his own hall.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow," Terra returned, though she seemed a bit preoccupied with other things as she and Vent walked down their own hall to their respective rooms. At first the thrill of having her best friend and crush walking down the hall with just her every day was great, but eventually the novelty wore off. Didn't mean she wouldn't enjoy the time alone though. "So Vent…" she started off nervously, twirling a loch of hair around her finger. "Do you think maybe… I mean if you're interested then…"

"Yes…?" Vent said fishing for an answer with a small smile on his lips, the way the brunette's cheeks dimpled causing the blond to fluster uncontrollably as all his attention fell upon her.

"Um… Later!" Terra said nervously as she suddenly whirled around to her door and slipped in before slamming it shut, the brunette staring confusedly with a** (. . .) **going off above his head before he simply shrugged his shoulders and walked into his room.

* * *

><p>An hour later into the night, Terra was sitting on the couch behind her coffee table with a Teen Titans-issued laptop in front of her, organizing some files onto a document to an unknown receiver. Right as she pressed the <strong>SEND <strong>button, a knocking sound came from her door, causing the blond to gasp before closing the lid hastily. Getting up to open the door, it opened to reveal Beast Boy out in the hall shooting her a broad grin, the blond thankful she finished up when she did; though it didn't prevent her from feeling _guilty _about it.

"Hi."

"Hi…" Terra returned, an uncomfortable silence passing between them as Terra waited a minute for the greenette to respond. A while later and rubbing her arm with her free hand, the blond backed into her door before waving her hand and saying- "Okay, well… nice talking to you." As she turned to go back into her room, the changeling let out a surprised yell before he whipped out a large, lumpy, and badly-wrapped package in front of him.

"I kinda… made you something," he said hastily, causing the girl to lean out and meet him.

"You did?" she asked as she took the parcel.

"Yeah," he laughed nervously. "Went a little crazy with the glue gun," he said as he tried to shake the still-stuck glue gun loose, only for it to hold tight to his gloved hand hand. As he struggled against the stubborn adhesive-applicator, unaware of the fact that he could've simply _removed _the gloveit was stuck to, Terra unwrapped the package revealing a polished heart-shaped box colored silver. Flipping the lid open, she found that above a pair of hinges set along the heart's upper lobes was a mirror set perfectly onto the inner surface, a small gasp escaping her lips at the warm-hearted gesture.

"Beast Boy… it's… I don't know what to say."

"You could say yes, 'cause I'm about to ask you out on a date," Beast Boy said leaning towards her a little.

"Oh… wow…" the blond replied sounding a little less than enthusiastic, a wave of dread gripping at her heart as she nervously looked away.

"So… Want to do something tomorrow night?" Beast Boy asked hopefully.

"Tomorrow… I… I'm sorry Beast Boy, I can't," Terra said as she hastily turned away.

"But-" the changeling pleaded desperately.

"I just can't," the blond cemented as she shut the door behind her, the changeling's jaw hanging for a moment before he hung his head, about to walk down the hall and sulk in his room before a familiar voice called out to him.

"Sounds like you've got some girl troubles, stranger," a voice said from behind causing the greenette to turn around. Standing in the opened door across from Terra's was a familiar red-eyed brunette, his hair _-which had now been set into a braid like Ed's from Fullmetal Alchemist after the timeskips in "TV Land" caused it to grow out-_ combed back, and his attire drastically different from anything he'd worn before. Top to bottom he was dressed in a white dress shirt and a red bow tie around his neck with a silver vest over it, a white apron in front of his black dress pants with a pair of just-polished dress shoes on his feet. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked as he continued to polish a glass mug in his hand, despite the fact that it was practically sparkling already.

"Uh… Sure…" Beast Boy said following his teammate into his room, the lights dimmed except those over the mini-bar stools and the sound of soft jazz meeting his ears. Posted above the bar was a crimson neon sign that read **Windy Bar **with swirling wind patterns off the right side, glowing segmented lines moving like actual wind.

"Now then…" "Bartender Vent" said stepping behind the bar as he continued to polish his mug. "What'll your poison be?"

"Uh…" Beast Boy said trying to wrap his mind around the brunette's newest persona. Seriously, one tended to lose track after a while, and it was surprised the brunette hadn't completely lost _himself _yet. "Something light. I'm on duty," he said trying to sound cooler than he felt right now.

"A nice Buck's Fizz then," the brunette said in a relaxed tone as he brought out a bottle of champagne and orange juice from the double-wide mini fridge behind the counter. Pouring one part of the prior and two parts of the latter into a gleaming silver bar mixer, he shook the two together for a moment before setting it down and reached up to the overhead rack of differently-shaped glasses above him, delicately grasping a pair of tall champagne flutes before pouring equal parts of the cocktail into both. Sliding one to the changeling while he gracefully took one for himself, he took a sip before saying- "So, what's your trouble, kid?"

"Well…" the changeling said as he swirled the contents of his glass, figuring his teammate's roll-playing was so he would feel like he was talking to an experienced adult instead of his teammate. "There's this girl I like, but I keep making a fool outta myself."

"So you're bummed about it?" the bartender asked, the changeling taking a sip of his beverage and making an odd face at the taste of the fermented fruit juice as it made its way down his throat before he got used to the taste.

"Yeah. A little," Beast Boy sighed as he slumped forward onto the bar, feeling a little deflated, but was slowly feeling better now that he had someone to talk about it with. "How do _you _cope? Fumbling around in front of the girl you like I mean?"

"Wouldn't know. I'm just as experienced in the ways of women as you are," the brunette said as he went back to polishing his piece of glassware after finishing off his Buck's Fizz. "Most I know 'bout women come from TV and watching them bounce around," he said getting a strange look from the changeling. "Figuratively of course," he amended, getting an "Oh" from the green teen, feeling a bit embarrassed about jumping to the conclusion that he did. "Where do you think you messed up?"

"_Where_? The whole _thing _was a mess!" the changeling cried exasperatedly as he waved his glass as though asking for a refill, the brunette shaking the mixer a couple times before refilling it for the changeling, who downed the cup in one cup before leaping off the stool and proclaiming- "I mean, how could I mess _that _up? All I had to do was knock on the door and say…" he said whirling around and suddenly taking the shape of a bodybuilder like Arnold Schwarzeneger.

"Yo, Terra. You, me, movies, Friday?" The next moment he spun around before a moonlight stretch of ocean appeared behind him, the lovestruck teen appearing in a debonair Frenchman outfit complete with a beret and rose. Sniffing it, he then leaned forward before saying-

"You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen," in a French accent. He then whirled around again before he was dressed like a 1950s teenage gang member, a winged skull on the back of his leather jacket and a ducktail haircut.

"You want to go for a ride on my moped?" he asked as he twirled a set of keys on his finger. The next moment he was sitting in front of a flowery backdrop in the guise of a puppy, panting cutely and wagging his tail for a few seconds before whirling around once more.

"Pleeeeeeeeeese?" he pleaded as a dark blue backdrop… dropped behind him accompanied by a heavy downpour, down on his knees and hands clasped together pleadingly with eyes wide and full of tears. Little did he know that this was the alcohol _–despite how little it was- _kicking in, and that he had effectively made a fool out of himself in front of the brunette. The bartending teen however didn't appear to mind, mulling his thoughts over in his head and polishing his glass before saying-

"Well, all those approaches are good and bad at the same time," he said causing the changeling to sulk. "All I can really say for you is that, if you continue to be as honest and sincere as you are, you'll find yourself with the girl of your dreams, even if it isn't the one you struck out with tonight," he said causing the changeling to perk up.

"Thank you _so _much, man! You have no idea how much I needed that!" he said clasping the brunette's hands and shaking them wildly, the red-eyed teen catching the flying piece of glassware on the bottom of his shoe expertly before the changeling finally let to, the brunette taking to polishing the bottom of the glass as his "customer" finally calmed down. "Uh… _Whelp…_" he then grunted as he adjusted his belt around his waist as he hopped off his stool, digging into his pocket before slapping a **$5 **bill onto the polished black counter. "I've got a corner to sulk into for a while. Maybe I'll bring my friends by next time."

"Just be sure to bring money. I don't serve bums," the brunette replied as he polished the glassware in his hands. The changeling couldn't tell if the brunette was being _serious_ or not, but he certainly knew how to cut through a tense and/or gloomy atmosphere. After the changeling left, the brunette let out a sigh as he set down his mug and cloth with a low -_**clack- **_and -_**shff-**_ respectively."Polishing mugs is harder than I thought it'd be," he then said rubbing his wrist after setting the glassware down. "It's a killer on the wrists," he said removing the apron from his waist before he stepped into his closet and hung his "Sympathetic Bartender" outfit up and put it in a plastic garment bag. Finding himself in only his boxers, he pulled a white baggy sleep shirt over his head before a small -_**rap-rap-rap-**_ping sound echoing into the room from his panoramic-view window. Peering out of his walk-in closet door, he saw his favorite blond standing up on a floating boulder just outside his window. "Terra?" he asked aloud as he flexed his powers, and hit a small button on the wall to the left, one of the windows openning and letting a cool night breeze in.

"Hey Ven. Wanna go out?" she asked him seemingly out of nowhere. The brunette could only blink a couple times before raising his finger as if to say- "Give me a minute."

Diving back into his closet, he slipped on a pair of black converse sneakers, a pair of faded blue jeans, and a green T-shirt with a black graphic of a roaring tiger. Looking for something to keep him warm since it was chilly tonight, his hands were inevitably drawn to the two key articles of clothing he had first worn when coming to Jump; His dark blue black-trimmed sleeveless hoodie, and his sky blue cloud-patterned scarf.

"I'm ready to go. Just let me grab my wallet," the brunette said digging into his desk and stuffing his wallet into his back pocket. He was about to bring his T-Comm. into his hands, however Terra grabbed his arm and pulled him out the window before he could do so, the device spinning to a stop on the floor.

At the same time inside the Ops. Center, Cyborg, experiencing a really bad case of the munchies, had walked to the kitchen to curb his urges. Stomach growling in his… stomach, he opened up the fridge and withdrew a foot-long ham and beef jerky sandwich. Looking up however, his stomach, _and _appetite, both sank as he came face to face with an army of Sladebots standing on the counter and glaring down at him from all directions, more pouring into the room from every direction.

* * *

><p>"Haha. Terra, when you asked me out, I didn't think you meant "out of town"," the brunette said a while later after the blond had dragged him away from the Tower on the rock she was riding and onto a stony outcropping a ways outside the city, the view being that of the bay with Titans Tower in the distance. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were dragging me out here so you could do something <em>naughty <em>to me with no _witnesses _around," he chuckled mirthfully.

"N-N-N-N-No, of course not! I'd _never _do something like that!" Terra said blushing madly at what the brunette was implying. Not that it was too far from the truth though, and the thoughts filling her mind at his semi-lewd statement weren't really helping matters either.

"I kid, I kid," Vent said patting the blond's shoulder. "I was just having a little fun is all."

"Yeah… eh heh… fun…" the blond said with a blush as she tried to keep herself from imagining doing naughty things to the brunette where no one could see. _Too late, _she groaned to herself as she looked away from the brunette, her face the color of a steamed lobster while the brunette looked out on the bay, taking the time to enjoy the view she'd taken out to show him. "So uh… I was wondering if maybe… you wanted to get something to… um…" she stammered as she twit her fingers together, her face still flushed a bright red. "Eat?" she finally stammered out.

"Sure. Where do you wanna go?" the brunette asked. As to answer his question, the blond pushed him to the ground before raising the section of ground they stood on. Carrying it away with naught but her will alone, the brunette barely missed the telltale flash of Cy's sonic cannon going off inside the Ops Center, the massive panoramic view windows flashing red with laser fire a moment later.

* * *

><p>A half-hour to a full-hour later and Terra had landed just behind a quaint little diner just outside the city, the establishment itself called <strong>Ben's<strong>. The couple entered, causing the bell attacked to mark customer comings and goings to go off, the diner's occupants looking up for a moment before returning to what they were doing; eating their dinner, playing pool, or listening to the juke box off to the side. Wordlessly walking up to the counter, the two plucked up a couple menus before looking through, pictures of several meat dishes and who was presumably Ben himself licking his chops greeting the two. The place itself was quite nice, giving off the feel of a country home-town hangout where everyone could relax after a day at the ol' grind.

"Ooh! I think I'll have the Philly cheesesteak wrapped in bacon. _Lots _of bacon," the brunette said licking his own chops. Whether it was because he was always moving or just his metabolism, the teen was almost _always _hungry, and went through food almost as fast as Robin went through hairgel.

"Oh, I'll have one too, Pam," Terra said handing both menus to the waitress, a kindly-looking woman in her golden years with her thinning red hair up in a beehive.

"So, is this that nice boy you have the c-r-u-s-_h_ on?" the woman asked giving Terra a warm smile.

"Pam!" the blond cried in embarrassment with flush cheeks, while the brunette just waved it off with a hearty laugh.

"So, I'm guessing you've been through here before," Vent replied, figuring that Pam was just messing with his friend during their date.

"I've been _everywhere _before. I was quite the traveler before I became a Titan, remember?" Terra asked fiddling with her fork.

"I know the feeling. Ever been overseas?" the brunette asked.

"Eh… Not really. The ocean isn't exactly my best friend if you catch my drift," the blond said nervously. It didn't really help that she couldn't swim either.

"I can see where you're coming from on that," the brunette replied as he fiddled with his own fork as well. "So where's the coolest place you've ever been?"

" . . . Don't know," Terra said after thinking really hard about it. "Probably Titans Tower... But hey, there's plenty of cool stuff out here," the blond said brightening up. "Who knows? If you're _really _nice to me, maybe I'll give you the tour."

"I look forward to the experience," the brunette said with an exaggerated bow before the smell of meat and cheese wrapped in other meat assaulted his senses. "Oh man, that smells _great_," the brunette said digging in, the blond doing so as well. After she and her date ate with gusto for a couple of minutes, she looked up only to gasp slightly at the sight of Slade's image in the mirror across from her. Whirling around in her stool, all she came across was the sight of a pair of customers drinking his coffee and reading the paper respectively, no sign of the masked man anywhere.

"Something wrong?" the brunette asked looking up from his meal.

"Oh um… nothing's wrong…" the blond said trying to stop the uncertainty from sliding into her voice. Strangely enough, the sight of a bit of bacon and cheese on his cheek combined with an innocent child-like gaze did the job for her. "So, you wanna head out for that tour?" she asked as she grabbed a napkin and wiped the brunette's cheek, Pam chuckling at the blond's expense in the background, her cheeks puffing out cutely.

"Sure," the brunette said once his face had been cleaned. Digging into his pocket, the teen took out a crisp **$20 **spot and set it onto the counter.

"Oh Ven, you don't have to do that. _I'm _the one who called you out in the middle of the night after all," the blond said hastily.

"Nonsense. It's the least I can do for a friend," the brunette replied with a smile.

"Friend. Yeah," Terra replied nervously before she finished up the last of her bacon-wrapped Philly cheesesteak, taking Vent's hand in her own as she proceeded to drag him out into the crisp night air once more.

"Be sure to have him use _protection_, you hear?" Pam called out suggestively right as Terra's back was to the woman, the girl's face resembling a traffic light as the resturant-goers chuckled at that. Ignoring the feelings that welled up in her blossoming bosom at what the aging woman had been implying, the blond dragged her friend out and raised their ride, sailing off into the distance a moment later.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back at the Tower, while Cyborg and Starfire were trying to fend off the waves of Sladebots <em>–whose aim was only <em>slightly _better than that of a Storm Trooper's-_, Robin tried and failed to hail Vent on his T-Comm., the rest of the team present apart from Raven. Said mage returned a moment later from the shadows, a cross look on her face.

"Terra isn't in her room, and neither is Vent," the mage said as she pressed herself to the wall, avoiding a hail of lasers through the gap in the bulkhead. At the same time, the changeling was off in the corner as the implication of what he just heard came back to him, his fists clenching at his sides.

"Somebody want to explain how two _hundred _armed robots got past _my _security?" Cyborg asked ducking back behind cover. Ripping a panel off the wall, a probe extended from the end of Cy's fingertip before he inserted it into a circuitboard set into the wall, only to receive an electrical jolt that threw him back. "Can't even access the computer! We're locked out!"

"They are too numerous to fight!" Starfire cried as she blindly threw starbolts down the hall. "What shall we do?"

"Fight anyway. Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as he and the others burst past the bulkhead and into the hall.

* * *

><p>"Ya-HOOOOO!" Vent whooped as, a half-hour's trip down the road, Vent and Terra found themselves in an abandoned amusement park that, despite being as such, was still in relatively good shape. A flip of a switch and a resetting of an on-site circuit breaker later, and the two had the place all to themselves, where they were currently riding an all-wood roller coaster called the <em>Megacoaster<em>. "Yeah! This place is awesome!" the brunette whooped as the ride came to a stop, the entire thing mostly automatic apart from having to hit the green **GO **button. The brunette did so with a finger point and a silver dart of wind, blowing the end of his finger like a cowboy would their trusty revolver after a standoff, much to the blond's amusement at his antics.

"Spent a lotta time here when I was on the road. It's the closest thing I've ever had to a home," Terra said as the safety bar stood up and the two got out.

"Aside from Titans Tower you mean?" Vent aksed, getting a nod in return.

"So, you want to ride the bumper cars or-" the blond began to ask.

"Terr, are you okay?" the brunette asked, stopping her by placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Totally! What would make you think I'm not?" the blond asked.

"Because I'm having fun, but I can tell that you're not," the bruette said as he lead the two over to a bench. "Come on Terr, I'm your friend here. Talk to me."

"Well… The thing is…" Terra said fishing around an excuse for her behavior. "I'm… wishing I'd dressed a little warmer?" she said more as a question than a statement. The brunette looked at her oddly for a moment, then removed the hand-knit scarf from around his neck before wrapping it around the blond's. "V-Ven, your scarf!" she said in shock as it was wrapped firmly around her, having only recently learned that apart from his friends, the article of winter wear was the brunette's greatest treasure.

"You said you were cold right? I don't have any problem lending it to you," Vent said giving the girl a smile, which caused her cheeks to tint red as she buried her face into the hand-knit cloth, catching a bit of the brunette's scent on the article of clothing as she did so.

_Oh man, I'm totally becoming a pervert, aren't I? _the blond thought to herself, her actions contradicting the self-berating at such lewd actions as she inhaled yet another whiff. _Odd. He smells like flowers. Maybe it's the shampoo he's using. Hair like that doesn't take care of itself after all, _the blond noted as she looked at the brunette's braid, which waved slightly in the night breeze.

"Better?" he asked after a moment.

"Huh?" the girl questioned as she adjusted it around herself, draping both ends over her shoulder in opposite directions.

"I asked if you were feeling better," the brunette repeated.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm fine! Thank you," the blond said bowing her head.

"That's the spirit. Now come on," the brunette said as he lifted the blond to her feet. "We've got some rides to ride!" he said dragging her off into the now-active amusement park, the two laughing all the way as they went about their date. For a few fleeting moments, Terra allowed the guilt at what she had set in motion to leave her mind, and simply enjoy her time with her best friend in the whole world.

At the bumper car arena, both Titans put up a valiant struggle _–after clearing the ring of any unnecessary obstacles-_, however it was Terra's victory, which she raised her fist up in victory with a loud whoop. After they got tired of bumping into one another, and not like _that _you perverts, they went to the Tilt-a-Whirl. Considering they had both eaten Philly cheese steaks wrapped in bacon only a half-hour or so before, the two had to quickly bail in order to empty out the contents of their stomachs. Despite the aftertaste in their mouths, the two could only see fit to laugh with one another after looking up from their own respective trash cans. The two soon entered a photo booth for a set of commemorative pics, the two posing for a nice picture with a smile before the next six were of them making various faces at the camera lens. The eighth, much to Terra's surprise, showed Vent kissing her on the cheek _-which he did for the shock value-_, her face flushed bright red as a result. The ninth showed Terra fainting, the brunette rubbing the back of his head bashfully in the final frame while the blond had a goofy smile on her face. After that came the Chamber of Horrors, and though the two weren't _really_ scared by anything in there, the two had fun simply screaming out at every animatronic that jumped out to meet them, the blond taking the time to enjoy the ride as she sometimes buried her face into the brunette's chest. They soon came upon an old carnival game where you had to knock over the cans with a baseball and win a prize. In an impressive display of aerokinetic skill, the brunette set up two trios of cans with his powers alone before taking one of the provided balls and driving it straight through his pyramid. The blond took her own shot moments later, only for her projectile to fall fantastically _–or _not-_so-fantastically- _short. A sudden gust of wind knocked them over however, and the blond saw fit to return the kiss from their earlier trip to the photo booth, brunette's face flushing red at the feeling of the blond's soft lips against his skin, her body held against his own. Finally, after a couple hours of just goofing off and enjoying that they had the park all to themselves, the two finally found themselves on the Big Wheel, the booths large enough that they could probably fit the entire team in there.

"So what made you want to ask me out?" the brunette asked seemingly out of nowhere after a few minutes on the ride. Like before, the brunette simply flicked his finger and struck the button with amazing aerokinetic dexterity.

"Huh?" Terra asked looking up.

"What made you want to ask me out?" the brunette repeated.

"Well…" Terra said twitting her thumbs. "Out of all the things I could've been doing tonight, I realized that what I wanted to do the most… was spend time with you."

"Lucky for me you didn't have any other plans, huh Terr?" he asked with her affectionatte pet name.

"Ven…" the girl started only to pause. "If you knew something bad about me, would you still be my friend?" the girl asked Vent with her hands clasping his, an almost pleading look in her eyes, a desperate one leeching into her words.

"Of course," he replied without missing a beat.

"If mean if you were _really _my friend, I could tell you anything. That no matter how horrible it was, you'd still like me… right?" she asked leaning forward, a worried look filling her blue orbs as she looked right into Vent's own crimson.

"I promise, Terr. No matter what, I'll always be your friend. Always," he said giving her hands a reassuring squeeze and a soft smile. Not the goofy smiles he'd throw about on occasion, but a nice, honest smile for when he truly did begin to forget about his scarred past. Unconsciously, he'd moved a couple inches closer to her, the distance between the two slowly shrinking.

"Ven…" Terra said softly as she continued to gaze into the brunette's eyes, slowly losing herself in them. After a moment's self-debate, the blond took a leap of faith as she removed her hands from the brunette's own and cupped his cheeks. Before the brunette could speak up the blond hastily mashed her lips up against his own, completely unaware of the third presence in the cart, a singular eye lazily watching them in the same way a cat would a mouse before pouncing.

Though the brunette's eyes widened at the sudden contact, he did not pull away. To Terra's delight the brunette instead wrapped his arms around her petite frame and pressed their forms flush together, each seemingly made with the other in mind. Throwing her arms around his neck and fisting his hair, the girl maneuvered them so she was now against the wall, their legs in a tangle as he leaned over her. Probing his mouth with her tongue in the midst of the intimate lip lock the two found themselves in, the blond could only let out a low moan as not only did he allow her tongue access, but his own slithered into her mouth as well, turning the lip lock into a _French _lip lock. After a few moments of the two exploring the others mouthes, hands roaming the other's forms with teenage libidos in full swing, the two separated with their foreheads touching, everything else beginning to fade away around them as they panted heavily to regain the air they'd been depriving themselves of in lieu of _other _physical capacities, before diving back in with reckless abandon. Slipping her surprisingly-delicate hands out of her brown leather gloves and stuffing them into her pockets, the blond slipped her hands under the brunette's shirt and ran them across his bare skin. At the sudden intrusion tingles ran up the brunette's spin and his body went ramrod straight, in more ways than one, as he decided whether or not he should go to second base as well. Seeing as how the facade had gone on for long enough, not really wanting to watch two horny teens go to third base with one another, the third presence within the car, having gone completely ignored until now, decided to make itself known.

"Hello Terra. Ex-apprentice. Have I come at a bad time?" the man asked plainly despite the scene in front of him, the blond's hands leaving her crush's form as she backed herself against the wall with a loud **-_clang_-**, the brunette's train of thought doing a 180 as, with years of training suddenly kicking in, the brunette whirled around and got into a fighting stance, placing himself directly between Slade and Terra, the blood in his veins now pumping for entirely _different _reasons.

"Slade!" Vent growled with narrowed eyes as he got into the best fighting stance he could, Slade simply reaching past the bruntte's defense and fisting the front of his shirt before throwing him over his shoulder like a piece of dirty laundry, the teen's back busting through the booth's door with a loud _**-crash- **_before he flew out into the night air.

"Ven!" Terra cried out as she ran past Slade and otu to him, only for the man's hand to roughly grab her forearm and jerk her back towards him.

"I have plans for you, Terra. Did you think you and your little boyfriend could just _run away_?" the man asked with a narrow eye as he roughly grabbed her arm. The next moment the hairs on the back of his neck bristled, and years of combat experience told him to leap back. Doing so as he roughly shoved the girl away, his reward came as a crescent blade of wind flew upwards through the cart _**-ka-shiin-**_ where he had once been standing, the metal box sliced in two, just as _he _would've been had he not dodged. Looking down, the man saw his ex-apprentice floating in the air below the cart, body post-bicycle kick as the two halves of the cart began to groan and the opening below widened, Slade fisting part of the mesh window while the blond barely held on to the edge of the open door.

"Terra! Let go!" the brunette bellow called out as twin spirals of wind swirled around his ankles and kept him afloat. Without a moment's hesitation the girl released her grip and let herself slide out of the biffurcated booth and into the open night air, only for a pair of strong arms to wrap themselves around her waist a moment later and the two to land on another booth, the one they were in before falling only moments later. Setting the blond down onto the roof, the sound of a grappling hook embedding itself into metal greeted his ear before Slade, grappling gun mounted on the underside of his forearm _–not dissimilar to Spider-Man's web shooter-_, pulled himself onto the booth the two were on narrowly escaping what would be a _very _painful fall.

"Stay where you are, child," Slade ordered without missing a beat.

"What right do you have bossing her around?" Vent demanded angrily, eyes glowing silver as the wind whipped at his hair.

"You mean she didn't tell you? I thought you two were-"

"She was a_bout _to tell me _something_, but then _you _had to butt in!" the brunette growled as he brought the back of his left hand and foot forward, his others behind his back as he got in a stance Slade didn't recognize. "Terra, get going. Slade's too far above your level to fight."

"But Ven-"

"Do you trust me?" the brunette asked sharply, catching the blond off-guard. "I said, do you trust me?!"

"I... I do!" she cried out, professing her utmost belief in him.

"Then get some distance between you and Slade. I'll join back up with you shortly," the brunette said keeping his eyes trained on Slade, attempting to find a weak point to exploit as Terra dropped down and was caught by a rock platform. As always, there was none to be found. The man didn't stay out of prison for so many years for being a slouch after all.

"I don't recognize that stance," Slade said as he and the brunette circled around one another, the man drawing his fighting staff before twirling it in his hands. "Nothing I can't pick apart though," the masked man said before he rushed forward on the limited space, the brunette whirling and weaving around the man's swipe and jab attacks, since one wrong move would leave him out in open air, and thus, vulnerable as he re-oriented himself. After a few moments of picking apart the brunette's fighting style, figuring it relied more on speed and power than precision, the man swung wide at the brunette's neck, aiming to take him out of the fight. However, Vent fell backwards at the last moment, a cry of "Konoha Shofu" leaving his lips as his left foot was driven upwards, his entire body acting as a spring. The masked man was intelligent enough to surrender his weapon, for it soared through the air for at least a hundred feet before sailing off into the distance. Pity, he really liked that one.

"Konoha Senpu!" the brunette then called out as he sent a high kick towards Slade's head. The man ducked down effortlessly beneath the kick that sailed over his head, though not expecting the low, medium, and then high kicks that followed post his evasion margin being restrained by the initial feint. The rotation speed had picked up with each kick, gaining buoyancy as the man was lifted into the air, the brunette giving a final call of- "Konoha Daisenpu!" –before flipping away from the man as he himself was thrown onto another booth.

"Ven! Get out of there!" Terra shouted from her floating rock platform as she spread her arms wide. The next moment there was a low rumbling through the earth below, a massive fissure opening up and swallowing the Big Wheel. Slade's singular eye widened as the supports buckled, the brunette throwing himself off and flying away via cyclone, whereas his ex-master was not granted the same option. Landing on the ground as a massive cloud of dust rose behind him, the brunette caught a flash of blond entering the house of mirrors, which he entered soon after.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile back at the Tower…<strong>

"Damn! There's just no _end _to these things!" Cyborg cried out as he fired another blast down the hallway, knocking one Sladebot down though the rest had dodged out of the way.

"What's worse, they're _learning_," Raven growled as she tried to focus her powers on some of them, only for them to leap off the walls making that a non-option.

"I wish friend Ventus were here. Perhaps he could use the Kamehameha and turn things around?" Starfire asked between lobbing Tamaranean curveballs.

"We don't _need _him," Beast Boy growled under his breath before transforming into a green panther, roaring into the air before dashing down one hallway and began clawing his way through a line of Sladebots in his wake.

"What's gotten into _him_?" Robin asked before he twirled his bo staff around and deflected some laser blasts coming at him from down the hall, not noticing a pair of blades cutting a circle in the floor beneath him before it suddenly caved in on him and threw him into the darkness below. "Ahhhhh!"

"Robin!" Starfire cried as she tried to fly after him, only for a pair of black and orange tentacles to wrap around her body before pulling her down a hallway with a shrill shriek. Before Cyborg could move in to help, a huge black blur suddenly bulldozed through the wall on his right before taking him through the left with the force of a freight train.

"What's going on here?" Raven demanded before a silhouette suddenly appeared on the window behind her, a purple whip-like beam of plasma punching through the glass before snaking its way around her waist, pulling her off her feet and into the night air.

* * *

><p><strong>At the same time back at the carnival grounds…<strong>

"Terra. Terra, where are you?"the brunette called out as he looked around, trying not to lose himself in the varying reflections around him. A few seconds later a hand whipped out from between a gap in the mirrors, pulling him into the next aisle where he and his assailant got ready to knock the other's lights out. Realizing it was only Terra, the two let out a sigh of relief before the brunette pulled the girl into his arms, the girl surprised by the sudden display _-intimate moment before notwithstanding- _before he held her by the shoulders and said- "Terra, I think I left my communicator at the Tower. I need you to give me yours."

"I don't have it," the blond answered.

"Then we've gotta make a break for it and get back to the-" he said leading her to the end of the hall by the hand, coming into a circular room of mirrors.

"Ven, I'm not going back," Terra cut in as she pulled her hand out of his, gloves back on. "I… I can't."

"What? Why?" the brunette asked whirling around.

"Because…" Slade's voice echoed through the empty halls, his footfalls giving way to his likeness being imposed upon the reflective surfaces around them. "Terra is no longer a Teen Titan. She is my apprentice."

"What?!" Vent asked in a soft gasp. "Terr, this can't be true… Can it?" he asked looking around, only to see that the girl had gotten away from him while he was distracted. "Terra?" he asked meekly as he tried to reach out to her, only for the bane of his existance to begin speaking once more.

"I don't see how this is surprising," Slade said as the brunette lashed out with a kick at the nearest reflection without a moment's hesitation, shattering the glass with a loud -_**SMASH- **_as he continued to talk. "I've had a _number _of apprentices in the past." -_**SMASH- **_"Did you really think I would stop after just one or two?" he asked as the brunette continued to smash the mirrors around him, shards of glass in the bottoms of his sneakers, his knuckles bleeding as shallow breaths passed his lips.

"What did you _do _to her?!" the brunette demanded as he drove his elbow into another -_**SMASH-**_ pane of glass. "TELL ME!?"

"I found her." -_**SMASH-**_ "After you _abandoned _her, I trained her to control her powers."

"What? No, I didn't abandon her!" Vent shouted as he ceased in his angry thrashing as he attempted to find where the bastard was that was doing all this. Didn't really help that on top of all his _other _skills, the man was a master ventriloquist, able to make it seem like he was standing across the room even when he was breathing down your neck.

"Oh but you _did_," Slade said condescendingly through his mirrored doppelgangers. "She pleaded you go with her, but instead you turned your back on her. _I _on the other hand, welcomed her with open arms. True, her meeting you and Raven in Gotham almost jeopardized my plans, but all along you remained none the wiser."

"The Terra I knew would _never _join someone like you. Not in a million _years_!" he roared as he drove his knee into another -_**SMASH-**_ reflection; this time aiming low.

"Oh but you never really _knew _her now did you?" -_**SMASH- **_"And now that you're here, powerless to prevent the annihilation of your team," he said causing the brunette's eyes to widen, his already-bloody fist inches away from smashing yet another reflective pane. "The endgame has almost begun."

"You LIE!" the brunette shouted angrily.

"Ven… It's the truth," Terra's voice said from behind him, the brunette whirling around to see one of the panes had been slid to the side while he wasn't looking, both Terra and Slade standing just outside the shadows.

"I refuse to accept that!" Vent roared as he lunged at the masked man. "Konoha Goriki Senpu!" the brunette roared as, in a combination of speed and power, he spun around into a flying back kick aimed directly at the taller of the two. When Slade was knocked off his feet and thrown through rows of mirrors, the feral look in the brunette's eyes caused Terra to gasp before she found herself running in the opposite direction. Memories of her past flashing in front of her, the blond was assaulted on all sides by reflections of herself, all bearing shocked, speechless, hopelessly confused expressions. When the implications of what she had done finally, _fully _caught up to her, she fell to her knees in despair, sobbing openly with tears streaming down her face as her world began to fall apart.

"Ven, I'm sorry. _*sniff* _I'm so sorry. I never _*sob* _I never meant for any of this to happen…"

"The why did you let it?" he asked from behind her, braided hair undone letting it flow freely down his back.

"I don't know, okay? _*sniff* _I don't know," Terra cried as she turned around, the brunette's clothing torn and slashed in numerous places, the visible parts of his body darkening with bruises, one over his right eye that would turn into a real _shiner _come morning, and a busted lip that dribbled blood down his chin. "Slade… he helped me. Saved me from myself. He said I owed him, but-"

"That doesn't matter, okay? None of this matters," the brunette cut in, causing the blond to pause in shock. "I was Slade's apprentice too. I got away. You can too. Please…" he said extending his hand to her, eyes moistening as tears gathered in their corners. "Stop this… Stop this before it starts."

"Ven-"

"Sorry boy. It's too late for your words to reach her," Slade's voice said from the brunette, who whirled around to engage his old master once more, only for a small _**-thwip- **_to precede the impact of something into the side of his neck. Yanking it out, his palm opened to reveal a small dart the size of his pinkie, the contents most likely inside his body already. Fully facing his ex-master, the brunette was caught off guard when the man opened fire on him, five like darts to the first impacting random spots around his chest and abdomen, his hand darting around and removing them from his body before he assumed a fighting stance, only for his body to suddenly feel light… and… loose…

"What… did you… do…?" the brunette rasped as he tried to remain standing, his eyelids growing heavy as he tried to remain upright, only for that to prove increasingly difficult, his body swaying like a reed in the breeze and the world in front of his eyes began to blur.

"Just a little something to… take the edge off," Slade said off-handedly, the brunette throwing a fist forward only for Slade to move it aside effortlessly with his index finger. A short huff from the slats in his mask bowled the brunette over like in the old cartoons, a -_**crack-thud- **_echoing through the house of mirrors as his head hit the concrete floor. "Apprentice. Come," the man then said turning around to leave.

"But Ven-"

"I said _come_!" the man ordered once more, whirling about on his heels before walking off, leaving the blond on her own with the unconscious brunette. For how much good that did her.

"Ven… Forgive me," she pleaded sadly as she kneeled next to him. After making sure he was okay, his head hitting the ground actually sounding a lot worse than it was, the girl removed the silver butterfly barrette in her hair, looking at it for a few moments before she crossed the brunette's arms over his chest. Placing the memento in his grasp, the girl left, quiet sobs echoing through the ruined hall of mirrors.

* * *

><p>Falling through the darkness of the hole he had been cast into, Robin shot his grappling hook into the ceiling and swung into a dismount, rolling to convert his downward momentum into forward inertia. Coming to a stop with eyes darting about, two metallic -<em><strong>CLINK<strong>-_ing sounds reached his ears as something dropped in front of him from across the room, his eyes finally acclimating in time for him to see just who had thrown him down there.

The thing waiting for him _appeared _to be a Sladebot, but was drastically different from the kind Slade burned through like copy paper. This one was taller than the "standard" model, its upper body covered in a single piece of gray chest armor that covered its angular shoulders, its black bodysuit stopping at its knees and elbows, its forearms and shins a stark contrast to the "standard" Sladebot. This one's forearms were almost bone-thin with fully articulated hands bearing foot-long knife-like fingers honed to a razor's edge, the barest amount of armor on its forearms. From the knee down its legs were replaced with pointed metal spikes, maintaining equilibrium by maintaining a low, predatory stance.

Last but not least was its head; While it was still encased in a black mask like the other models, this one had a pointed chin, the top of its head sloping back into a long, aerodynamic point. Most unsettling though were its eyes, or rather, optic; running across the middle of its face in an angular obtuse angle, a red glaring slat similar to that of the 1982 _Knight Rider _glared back at him. The only thing that even _confirme_d that this was one of Slade's robots, and not just some random robot ninja assassin, was the red-orange circle on its mask.

"What the-" was as far as Robin got before the thing charged at him, the points of its legs carrying it across the ground at super-human speeds before its right arm shot forward, the thin aerodynamic design cutting through the air as its knife-like fingers flew towards his head. The Boy Wonder leapt backwards from the initial strike, but just when he thought he'd dodged it, he felt the air rush across his chest before his shirt was suddenly shredded open. His gloved hand quickly went to his chest, eyes widening at the sight of blood since he'd never been so sloppy before, until years of training kicked in. Throwing himself to the side, the razor-handed Sladebot's feet flew through the air where he once stood, the thing corkscrewing through the air and punching a hole through the wall on the far side of the room.

"_Damn. It's times like this I wished I'd just sucked up my pride and let Bruce re-design my suit,"_ the Boy Wonder grumbled beneath his breath as he removed his cape, twisting it into a rope between his hands. While Batman's costume was composed of Kevlar mixed with a small percentage of titanium, the only part of _his _that came even close was his high-density polymerized titanium cape. The rest of his costume, which hadn't been changed since the _first _Robin hung up his cape, was a modified circus costume, and didn't come anywhere _close _to offering that kind of protection. "If I live long enough, I'll have to seriously invest in more protection."

The next moment off his right side, a trio of slashes arranged in a triangle shape were sheared through the wall before, like Wolverine, the "Razorbot" burst through the wall in a lunge, its claws aiming for the Boy Wonder's throat. Sound of razors cutting through the air met the Boy Wonder's honed ears, and in a flourish he whipped his coiled cape out, catching its fingers and holding them up away from himself, the material holding strong even as he was pushed to the ground. The Razorbot raised its right arm above his head to compensate, however Robin kicked out and threw the thing over his head into the wall, whipping out an ice disk and chucking it into the wall, catching its feet as it landed only for the thing to leap right out and back at him. Raising his cape and catching the thing's claws in his cape once again, the sound of ripping cloth soon reached his ears as the claws began to shear through. The Boy Wonder leapt out of the way at the last moment as his cape was slashed in half, however three vertical slashes were gouged down his chest and abdomen.

_The average human has four liters of blood in their body, however they can only stand to lose two before going into shock. Given my… _size, _the most I can afford to lose is one and a half before _I _go into shock, _Robin said to himself, choosing a less indicative word since he'd never admit he was short, barely a head taller than Beast Boy who was the smallest person on their team, even the spindly _Terra _having a few inches over the both of them. Though the wounds across his chest were shallow, the tic-tac-toe wound coupled with the continuous movement caused only more blood to pour out of his chest and drench his outfit. Already his vision was starting to swim, and he probably hadn't lost even _one _liter yet. If it got to one and a half, two if he was lucky, then it'd be all over for him. The thing lunged at him again without relent, the Boy Wonder whipping out his bo staff and flung himself onto the ceiling and out of the way. It was at that moment that he remembered something Vent had done to him once before.

As the Razorbot looked up to the Boy Wonder, its optical slat was greeted with a blood-coated palm strike from Robin, which he wiped down the front of its faceplate, a few strands of hair sliced off in the retaliatory swing as he rolled away. The thing's field of vision was now slathered crimson, but when it moved to wipe it away, the line of its code in its programming that prevented it from accidentally slashing itself with its own claws kicked in and stopped it. At the same moment however, another line of coding kicked in, prompting it to keep its target within its line of sight, and the line of sight itself unobstructed. However, because it could not do so without wiping its visor clean, and it in turn was program-wise incapable of doing so, the Razorbot had trapped itself in a logical paradox.

"Holy… That actually worked…?" Robin gaped seeing its arms shake around its head as the thing shuffled about randomly, completely blind to the world around it as the two lines of code continued to interfere with one another. Feeling his vision swim a little, the Boy Wonder quickly whipped out every Electric, Freezing, and Explosive Disk in his remaining arsenal before throwing them all in succession, the Razorbot unable to avoid the following electrocution, flash-freezing, and salvo of projectiles that struck it. At the same time that the blown-out mechanical corpse fell to the ground, Robin too fell to his knees, but he managed to lean himself up against the nearby wall. Whipping out one last Freezing Disk, he lowered the spread and power output before slapping the end onto his chest, encasing it in ice and stopping the loss of blood until he could get it better treated. As he struggled to remain conscious however, he could only wonder…

Just what were the rest of his team fighting?

* * *

><p>Finding herself thrown into what remained of the Ops Center, Starfire leapt up to her feet to confront the thing that had grabbed her grebnaks and yanked her away from her friends. The thing that greeted her reminded her partially of the thing from <em>Wicked Scary <em>that Beast Boy had been given that one time, and in the current setting, it proved to upset her greatly.

The thing that had dragged her away from her friends resembled the other Sladebots in no way, shape, or form outside of color. The thing that yanked her away had a pitch black head with four points, a red slat for eyes staring at her, and bore a hunched-over stance. In place of its arms were long prehensile tentacles that dragged across the floor slightly, and in place of its legs and lower body was a long flowing tail with a gray underbelly.

"I do not know who are what you are, but I _do _know that you are _not _my friend," Starfire said as she floated a little ways into the air, hands glowing and casting an emerald light across the room. The thing merely, uh, stood, in a slouched position with its tentacle-like arms waving about, a chill running up the alien girl's back at the sight. She may've been from a warrior race where women could typically fight for longer than men due to their higher pain tolerance, but a healthy "awareness" of tentacles was universal, regardless of race or planet of origin.

That and the things were just so damn creepy.

"Hah!" she cried out as she lobbed a large starbolt right at its chest, only for the "Squidbot's" body to suddenly become partially translucent, the attack passing right through it and taking out a chunk of the floor. "What?" she asked in shock before the thing's arms suddenly shot out at her, the girl ducking to the floor before flying off to the right, its tentacles ripping the table from the floor before it was thrown at her, the girl firing her laser eyes at the thing again, only for its body to once again become translucent. "What is going on here? Why can I not hit you?!" she shouted, a bit of anger leeching into her voice, as she continued to lob her emerald projectiles at the Squidbot, only for its body to become translucent with each hit.

The next moment its tentacles lashed out as her and began coiling around her legs, soon heaving the girl up into the air before it slammed her into the floor, then dragged her across the room through a number of consoles before she was slammed into an adjacent wall. Though she tried to lash out with her eye beams to the offending appendages, they slithered backwards and around the beams before they returned to their owner's sides, who simply became translucent once more as Starfire's energy beams struck it. In retaliation the thing reached out and grabbed her ankles before slamming her into the ceiling, walls, and floor, ruining the kitchen and shattering a few windows before she was thrown through the door. When the thing attempted to follow her, a flurry of starbolts suddenly came at it. However, instead of merely becoming translucent like before, it weaved through the projectiles as it slithered backwards, the energy bolts barely grazing its flanks while utterly demolishing the living room, Star coming back into the room with a growl.

"Beast Boy said if I can't kill, then go for _over _kill," Starfire huffed, becoming mentally exhausted by this never-ending game of cat & mouse _–or in this case alien princess & tentacle robot-_. _How… can I draw out more power? _the heroine asked herself. Whether it was because she was in the living room where this one particular memory originated or because that last hit was making her head spin, a memory related to such a dilemma seemed to crawl to the forefront of that mind.

**Mini-Flashback**

"Kaaa… Meee…"

"Friends Beast Boy and Ventus. Why is the Son of Goku requiring so much time to prepare for an attack that he has done more promptly in past episodes?" Starfire asked as the Saiyan charged up his attack.

"Haaa… Meee…"

"Because the longer it takes to charge an attack, the more powerful it becomes," the brunette and greenette chorused in unison.

"HAAAAA!-!-!" Goku roared as he fired a beam large enough to nuke half of Jersey from his hands. Whom he was firing it at wasn't important since they were about to get vaporized anyway.

**Mini-Flashback End**

"Huh. I guess under these circumstances…" Starfire said as she got to her feet. "When all else is failing, one must go for bankruptcy," she said not realizing her butchery of the English language. It was cute and endearing in its own way, not that there was anyone around to listen to it at the moment. As she ceased to attack, the tentacle-armed robot advanced forward around the pock-marked room, though not too quickly otherwise the treads on its lower body would be unable to keep up.

"Kaaa... Meee... Haaa... Meee..." Starfire intoned as she held her hands at her sides, the energy ball in her hands glowing brighter and brighter, until the entire room was colored emerald, a loud whirring filling the air as the Squidbot lunged at her. "HAAAAA!-!-!-!-!" she roared as she fired a massive emerald and white beam from her hands, vaporizing nearly half of the Ops Center and sending a wide-arcing beam sailing through the air above the bay, almost hitting the bridge before the attack struck out at the water in the distance. Though the Squidbot attempted to phase shift through the attack, and was able to do so for a few seconds mid-lunge, its power source soon tapped out, and like in every other Dragon Ball Z episode, the tentacle-bearing machine was slowly vaporized until nothing was left.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the Tower, Cyborg was smashed through several walls before being thrown across the hall, his metal frame bouncing a few times before he regained his bearings.<p>

"Man, anyone get the number on the thing that hit… me?" Cyborg groaned as he rubbed his aching head, a large shadow being cast over him, causing him to yell out in shock as he quickly backed away from whatever it was that dragged him down there. "Whoa…"

The thing was similarly-_colored _to the other Sladebots they'd been knocking down, but that was where the similarities ended. The one towering over him was a head taller than him and twice as wide, its body round and compact. Its upper body, legs, and feet were covered in a black bodysuit, its large arms _–larger than his own- _left "bare". Its arms in some part reminded him of the robotic villain Atlas, though the biceps were bulkier; its "skin" was colored red-orange, a pair of armored bands around its biceps and hands, which had large, powerful fingers. Its legs on the other hand were short and stumpy, the indentions from the footfalls in the floor saying all there was to say about this thing's mass without words being spoken. Lastly was its head, which was wide and low-set to its body with no visible neck in sight; its narrowed eyes were set within a horizontally-elongated red-orange diamond, its optics glaring lazily at him, almost like a person wearing a boot contemplating whether or not to step on an ant.

"That's… pretty big…" Cy gaped at the thing that greeted him, his mechanical opponent built like a sumo. On steroids. Not a good combination. "Oh... fu-OOF!" he grunted when the "Sumobot" suddenly charged at him and struck him with its large frame, sending him bouncing backwards against the hall. "Alright tough guy, you want a piece of me?" he asked as he brought out his sonic cannon. "Come get some!" he shouted as he let the beam loose straight at the Sumobot. To the cybernetic teen's shock, the thing simply walked into the beam unfazed, the attack spilling around its frame as it advanced unhindered, its footfalls leaving small craters in the floor as it advanced. "Rrrgh...! Stay _down_!" the cyborg shouted at he brought out his other sonic cannon and fired, the two causing the Sumobot to stumble backwards a step, only for it to begin advancing once again as it powered its way through his attacks. _What on Earth is this thing made out of? None of my attacks are working! _Cyborg groaned inside his head as he began to backpedal, his opponent continuing to power through his movements like it was nothing. Even when aiming at its head, the sonic waves just slid off like water off a duck's back.

The next moment it suddenly placed its weight down on one foot before suddenly rushing forward, tearing its way through Cyborg's sonic blast attack before mowing into him. A moment later its massive arms wrapped around his frame, the thing rushing forward and driving cyborg through several walls, Cyborg-first, before throwing the cyborg out of his grasp and into the far wall. Groaning as he got up, Cybog's eyes went wide as the thing rushed him again, leaping into the air with an intended body slam. Throwing his arms forward, Cyborg was unable to stop the thing from plowing him straight through the far wall, and into the open air outside of Titans Tower. Upon landing, or rather, being driven into the ground by something that weighed more than a bus, blood and spittle shot past Cyborg's lips as the thing nearly crushed him. Panting heavily as the thing stood over him, the Sumobot roughly lifted Cyborg into the air by a fistful of his shoulder, shattering the joint before the thing pulled the teen into a crushing bear hug.

"AAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH!-!-!" Cyborg cried out as his frame groaned loudly, his spine and remaining internal components being compacted, the thing intending to break him clean in half. "Rrrgh... NO! I ain't going down without a fight!" Cyborg growled as the plate on his chest blasted away with a burst of pressurized air, a hairline crack appearing on the thing's left eye before a taser with drill-like prongs sprung from his chest on an articulated arm, the thing's teeth digging into the thing's face before delivering an electrical shock, causing it to let go as it stumbled back, the discharge continuing as the fanged taser detached as it bit into the thing's face, Cyborg falling onto his back, his frame looking like he was thrown under a train and then into a trash compactor. "Gragh!" Cyborg cried before he cut the power to his left arm, the crushed joint and anything below it next to useless. "Damn it..." Cyborg growled as his mouth filled with the taste of copper, unable to even gawk at the sight of a massive white-and-emerald beam tearing out the Ops Center of the tower. "Slade's really going for the _kill _isn't he?" he panted as he forced himself to his feet, his frame protesting and numerous **CRITICAL DAMAGE **prompts reading out across his cybernetic eye. _I've gotta take that thing down... but none of my weapons work. That taser biting into its face won't hold out forever either, _the cyborg groaned as the thing finally managed to tear the offending device off its face, though the blinking of its eyes indicated _some _damage. Even if everything else didn't. _Wait a minute... What was it Beast Boy said I should do if something like this happened?_

**Mini-Flashback**

"So Cyborg, you can basically transform your arm into a cannon whenever you want."

"Yes," Cyborg returned as he maintained the T-Car.

"And you can fire individual shots out of it, right?"

"I prefer beams," he returned.

"So then couldn't you do Charge Shots like in Mega Man?"

"B, you've been playing way too many video games. My onboard weapon doesn't work like that."

**Mini Flashback End**

"Man... If I'm actually listening to one of BB's crazy ideas, I must be _really _desperate," he chuckled weakly, feeling like the thing had busted a couple ribs, even though he technically didn't _have _any anymore. _Hope this doesn't blow up in my _face_! _Cyborg thought to himself as he held his remaining arm forward.

As a high-pitched whirring sound began to ring out through the air, the Sumobot had isolated enough of the damaged circuitry to remain functioning. Detecting increasing energy readings from Cyborg's primary weapon, the thing rushed forward ready to crush him. Leaping forward with arms spread wide ready to crush him, the Sumobot's ocular sensors widened as Cyborg let out a mighty shout, and a massive blue blast with white rings flowing off of it appeard, the projectile plowing into its chest and forcing it back. Though its thick armor plating held out, a crack soon appeared on its armor before the attack began forcing its way into its chassis before the charged shot tore through its chest and out its back, mechanical innards sparking before it fell onto its back.

"Heh... I put the _Mega_... in Mega Man," Cyborg chuckled to himself as he fell to his knees, breaths coming slowly, yet proving he had made it out of this, though that "Chare Shot" as Beast Boy would've put it burned out half the parts in his arm, which would require replacing. The explosions going off elsewhere in the Tower proved however they weren't out of the woods yet.

* * *

><p>Being roughly thrown across the roof after being yanked out into the cool night air, Raven flipped onto her feet to catch a glimpse of the thing that had pulled her away from the others. While it appeared of like type to the Sladebots that had been attacking them only moments before, the similarities ended shortly after.<p>

This type appeared to be wearing a black unitard like her own, only without the arm coverings, and appeared to greatly resemble a certain winged rodent. While its biceps were thin, its forearms were enlarged with two clawed fingers and one thumb apiece, purple lenses in the palms, where the last residual wisps of the energy whip used to drag her outside faded away. It's legs were digitigrades in nature, with three clawed toes on its feet. Sprouting from its shoulders were a pair of bat-like wings with a twenty-foot wingspan, the wings' light gray leathery flaps connected to its biceps, which ended at its hips similar to a wingsuit. Lastly was its head, which was completely black with two horns on the top, and a horizontal slat like that crime-fighting car that Cyborg had _tried _to base the T-Car off of.

"I don't like being thrown around," Raven growled angrily, her powers causing a few cracks to spread across the ground around her. As a response the thing shot a crimson-colored laser from its eye slat, the mage dashing to the right before the blast hit, taking a chunk out of the roof, but giving the mage enough time to get back into the air.

With a chant of her mantra, Raven extended her will to one of the landed drop ships bearing Slade's insignia, a turbine torn off before she heaved it at the "Batbot", only for the thing to dodge and fire a laser at the mage, who dodged before raising a barrier behind herself and guarded herself from the exploding drop ship. The thing's plasma whip then wrapped itself around her waist before delivering a painful discharge before a raven-shaped silhouette emerged around her and helped her burst free from the constraint. Extending her will to the numerous pieces of the now-destroyed drop ship, she sent a myriad of debris soaring towards the Batbot, who either blasted them with its laser eyes or wrapped its plasma whips around them and sent them back at the girl. The next moment she tried to extend her will over the machine itself in order to disassemble it, only for the built-in "other worldly energy" sensor to activate, the thing beating its leathery wings to the side and shifting position rapidly, the mage unable to get a grip on it. Trying to extend her "Dark Hold" as some _–Beast Boy and/or Ventus- _would call it, the thing continued to evade capture, able to anticipate on what part of its body she would extend her will over based on the data provided. It was as the numerous attempts at this failed that a small tingling in the back of her skull became prevalent

_Hold on... What is this I'm suddenly remembering? _the mage asked herself as past memories leeched into the forefront of her mind.

**Mini-Flashback**

"Denpa Henkan! Subaru Hoshikawa! On air!"

"I know I told you guys you should read more, but this isn't exactly what I meant," Raven huffed one day at the Tower as she found Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Vent huddled around one of the monitors, streaming subbed anime straight from Japan in high definition.

"Lighten up, Rae. A little culture's good for the soul," Beast Boy said off-handedly.

"I wouldn't exactly call something like that _culture_," Raven huffed in return as she watched a future version of Mega Man fight a fire-breathing ox-thing. "Besides, how can you follow what's happening if your eyes are always glued to the _subtitles_?"

"Just because we're watching the English Sub doesn't mean I _need _to," Beast Boy returned.

"Please, man, you barely speak a _word _of the orient," Ventus quipped back.

"I can _so _speak Japanese!" the changeling argued.

"Yeah. Poorly!" Cyborg rebuttled. "After you told the Japanese ambassador visiting his brother in Jump last week that you had a beehive in your pants, you almost caused an international _in_cident," he said as a thought bubble with a chibi Beast Boy and a bearded Japanese ambassador appeared over his head. The next moment a speech bubble with mix-matched babble appeared over chibi-BB's head before he pulled the waistline of his pants forward, a swarm of bees attacking the Japanese man within moments of being unleashed.

"I was trying to compliment his beard," the changeling rebuttled.

"If you were trying to do that, you shouldn't have said 'W_atashi no zubon no hachinosu o motte iru._' What you _should _have said was _'Anata wa totemo sutekina hi-ge o motte iru.' _How the hell'd you get those two things mixed up _anyway_?" the brunette asked, Raven simply shaking her head as she walked off to meditate.

**Mini-Flashback End**

_. . . I've gotta get more normal friends, _Raven sighed at the end of that memory. When the thing's plasma whips lashed out at her next, instead of fighting it the mage clapped her hands together before wrapping them around the offending extension, a discharge of energy disrupting the energy flow of the plasma whip and causing it to dissipate.

"Phantom Claw!" Raven then shouted as she threw her cloak out wide, a large clawed hand appearing from the shadows and lunging through the air at the Batbot. Flying backwards, the phantom limb managed to grasp its leg at the last moment, Raven then clapping her hands before plunging them into the shadowy arm that had hurled itself from the shadows of her cloak. The next moment the thing's leg was blown clean off at the grip, the robot's processor immediately making calculations to compensate for the sudden loss of ballast, losing altitude as it did so. _I_ reeeeally_ hope Beast Boy doesn't see me do this, _Raven thought with a winch before she formed a cross sign with her fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

The next moment, a number of shadow-born silhouettes shaped like herself, only with different-colored eyes, rose from the shadows. All lunging at the Batbot, its laser eyes tore through them one at a time, only for a shadow clone with green eyes to sneak up on it from behind and put its wings in a "wing lock" causing it to fall out of the sky and land on the roof with a loud _**-CRASH- **_and land in a heap. Forcing itself up, the last thing it saw was the mage opening her cloak before a phantom clawed hand shot out from the darkness and pulled its head from its shoulders like a twist-top.

* * *

><p>Shortly after breaking off from the team, Beast Boy proceeded to tear through everything in his path. Shifting into a myriad of animals to attack, or evade, everything in his path was either crushed or slashed to the pieces by the time his feet passed them, mechanical bodies already on the ground by the time he was upon the next one. It was as he cleared the last of the Sladebots in the hallway he was in, several dozen behind him, that he let a series of shallow breaths pass through the lips of the form he had currently assumed. Though he had lost track of what animal form he was in, the changeling instinctively knew to leap out of the way when the whiskers on his face picked something up, his animal form sailing through the air and to the side before he returned to human form, a growl leaving his lips as a trickle of green-tinted blood ran down his cheek.<p>

The one that nicked the side of his cheek was another Sladebot, though this one was a stark contrast to the ninja-like automota the team had been facing before. This one was covered head to toe in black chainmail, polished black-grey samurai armor covering its shins, knees, hips, chest, and forearms covering its form, a red-orange sash around its waist. In place of its eyes was a red slat similar to the optics from the Knight Rider, a pair of angular horns atop its head, the sides of the helmet substituting shoulder guards with how long and wide they were. In its hands was a long black katana with a square guard above the handle, a drop of blood _-his- _sliding down the end tinting it red, which glinted in the moon's light.

"You want a piece of me, tough guy?" Beast Boy growled angrily, his voice changing to something more akin of a snarl. "Come and get it!"

Accepting the challenge, the "Samuraibot" raised its sword before bring it down, an sharp energy wave flying at the changeling, who quickly changed into a jackrabbit and leapt out of the way as a gash was torn across the floor. Deftly swishing out more slash attacks that cut the hallway to ribbons, rabbit-BB bounced around the attacks as fast as his tightly coiled muscles could carry him, changing into smaller animals whenever an attack was about to slice him. Getting inside the thing's guard, he transformed upwards into a ram and... _rammed_, into its chest plate, the thing skidding back a few inches while Beast Boy recoiled, rolling away from a retaliatory slash that nicked his left pectoral. A gloved hand going to his chest to see what the damage was, the changeling was happy the damage wasn't too deep, despite the fact that the sword being carried was almost as tall as he was, and the Samuraibot itself as tall as Cyborg if not taller.

The two then clashed once more, Beast Boy hosing a one-man Animal Planet marathon as he transitioned between nearly every animal he could think of that would fit in the confined hallway he'd been caught in. The Samuraibot in return lashed out with a myriad of different stances and sword kata, transitioning seamlessly from bladed weapon to hand-to-hand tactics. Within minutes the changeling's body was riddled with cuts while the machine had dents and scratches across his armor as well, with no clear victor even now. The next moment Beast Boy turned into a hummingbird and flew right into the thing's face, past the reach of his blade, before changing into a squid and releasing a spray of jet black ink in its face. Yanking the green cephalopod off its face and ejecting its stained visor from its faceplate, a fresh one was mounted within a half-second right as the Samuraibot registered the sight of an angry hippopotamus charging right at it, jaw opened wide.

What most were not aware of was that hippos were one of the most dangerous animals _out _there. While some thought they were placid creatures that couldn't hurt a fly, or just fat horses that lived in the water, you couldn't be farther from the truth. With a bite force capping at 8100 Newtons or 1821 pounds per foot, combined with razor-sharp teeth at least one foot in length they're _more _than willing to use, they could quite literally bite a person in half; and trust me, it's happened before. Lions and other large predators rarely attack humans, whereas hippos on the other hand are extremely aggressive and territorial, and will attack anything that ventures into their stretch of river, including boats. You would think that an herbivore wouldn't hurt you, but world-wide, hippos cause more human deaths than most _carnivores_, and even if its teeth don't get you, you get trampled by 4 tons of hippo and you'd rather be run over by a truck.

With a mighty _**–CHOMP-CRUNCH- **_before countermeasures could be made, the Samuraibot's head and torso were bit into by foot-long teeth, the changeling swinging his massive head from side to side before tossing the Samuraibot off to the side, its armor riddled with gaping holes that sparked as it got up. As it did so, a muscular green rat scampered up its leg before squeezing its way into one of the gaping holes, the Samuraibot just barely grabbing the rodent's tail as it scurried inside its chassis. The next moment numerous wires were cut by gnawing teeth, small tubes shattered by a thin muscular tail with each swipe, and conductors knocked out of balance by its small hips. Scurrying out its back before resuming human form, the Samuraibot began to spark and swagger around as numerous systems began to fail, the katana held in its magnetically-charged grip falling to the floor as it stumbled down the hall aimlessly. With a tired sigh Beast Boy grabbed the discarded blade, and right as the Samuraibot regained its bearings, its optics caught one final sight of a large muscular gorilla wielding a black samurai sword before its head was lopped clean off, the blade then descending from neck to groin before the thing fell into pieces.

"*_Pant pant pant_* Dude..." Beast Boy panted as he stabbed the end of the blade into the ground and propped his weight up on it. "I rock..." he said with a cheeky grin before he fell onto his back, blood-stained sword now his trophy.

* * *

><p>The following morning at the carnival ground, a ray of sunlight peaked over the horizon, bouncing through the house of ruined mirrors until it eventually landed on the brunette's closed eyes. Scrunching his nose at the discomfort of the sun's first light striking his half-opened eyes, he blinked the light from his eyes before dragging himself to his feet. Wondering where it was he had fallen asleep, the previous night's memories came to the forefront of his mind in an instant, and he slumped forward with heart heavy. Staring at the ground as he wished against all odds that the previous night's events had just been a bad dream brought about by a bad batch of nachos or furry blue food, he eventually came to accept the fact that what had happened, happened.<p>

That Terra had become Slade's apprentice. That Terra had betrayed the team. That he had been right there when it all came to light and he couldn't stop her. All he could do was flail about angrily, only to get his ass kicked after he put so much effort into _not _getting his ass kicked... And it tore him up inside. Getting to his feet, he finally noticed the presence of an object in his hand that wasn't there the night before... The night before Slade had taken Terra away, into the darkness.

Spreading his fingers as he looked into his palm, he saw the butterfly barrette he had bought her a while after they had first met. Funny thing was, when he first met her he thought she was just a guy with long hair and feminine features, so when he found out he bought it for her as a peace offering. Course, having half a cliffside brought down on top of you tended to make one's memory a bit spotty, so that could've been an inaccurate recollection of what happened. To that day Terra was the only one who remembered the circumstances of their meeting in perfect clarity.

Eyes widening as he realized that everything Slade had said was true, he clamped his eyes shut and closed his hand around the barrette as he finally broke down into tears, shoulders shaking and tears streaming down his face, surrounded on all sides by reminders of his failure. Body glowing silver, he let out a guttural roar into the air as it spiraled around him fiercely, the house of mirrors shaking around him before the whirling air formed a spiraling maelstrom, the top of the tent bulging upwards. Were one there to witness, they would've seen a tornado piercing the heavens and glittering like a mirror ball. Moments later, the vertical column of air vanished as quickly as it came, the broken shards of glass falling towards the brunette like a deluge, the components to the tent itself scattered far and wide.

Crimson eyes snapping open as they glowed silver, the air around him suddenly lashed out at everything around him, just as he himself wished he could. With shoulders squared and eyes narrowed like his ex-master's own, the world around him was drowned out by the winds that howled around him as, like ravenous wolves, his manifested power shredded and powdered everything that came close to him. Eventually the wind died down, all of his rage, anger, and hatred subsiding like the raging winds around him, the power leaving his body before he fell to his knees, breaths long and shallow as he fisted the barrette in his hand.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the brunette, silent as the grave and stone-faced as the mountains at his back, rose to his feet before he began to walk. Moving forward, the sound of glass crunching beneath his feet soon gave way to the shifting sands, everything beginning to disappear as he headed back for home. He had a lot of work to do.

* * *

><p>Arriving back at the Tower hours later, the last of his energy spent on getting past the bay and to the island's front step, the islands defenses sprung up to greet him, only for their recognition software to detect who he was and retract. Looking up from the front steps, the teen saw that almost every window had been blown out, no small number of robotic bodies either scattered across the ground around him or sticking out of windows, more likely inside. Pushing the massive doors aside by his own power before ascending the tower heights, the halls and stairwells he normally passed through without a second thought were now pock-marked with holes from laser blasts, more Sladebots scattered about, a multitude of pathways now inaccessible.<p>

"Damn it," was all the brunette could say as he finally entered the Ops Center, his friends weary and bloodied, huddling around what was left of one of the consoles. The state they were in, while not welcome, proved they were all still alive. Slade may've made off with Terra, but in the end at least his plan had failed. The man may've burned through Sladebots like copy paper, but they were still _radically _expensive apiece. The Titan's victory here would set his plans back by weeks, if not months, based solely on the fiscal drawbacks his defeat brought upon his bottom line. Unlike talk, evil wasn't cheap.

* * *

><p>"Well… Looks like we won," Cyborg said addressing his team after they had managed to assemble back in the meeting hall that morning. With a bit of help from Raven and Starfire, he'd been able to get his chassis straightened enough for him to be around on his own, though a brace had to be jury rigged around his body to keep his already-damaged vital components from failing altogether. It'd take smart minds and steady hands to put <em>this <em>Humpty Dumpty back together again.

"Then why does it not feel like a victory?" Starfire asked somberly as she rubbed her sore arms. Fighting something that could hit her but she couldn't hit back wasn't exactly high on her list of Earthly customs to partake in. While she had bested it in the end, it had cost the team their living room. Beast Boy jovially retorted he'd have liked to watch a "live DBZ battle", but settled for looking at the smoldering trench and imagining what it must've been like.

"I knew it. I knew it! We never should have trusted her," Raven growled with clenched fists. That bat-like Sladebot had singed her leotard and cloak, and since she hadn't been given the chance to change out, with the majority of her wardrobe already trashed, she probably looked a wreck. As much as her pride didn't allow herself to admit, using her powers to re-create the attacks and abilities of characters from fictional series had proved incredibly fruitful for her. That was probably why the brunette of the team was always changing his repertoire as he did; with such a versatile power, he never allowed himself to become stagnant, and thus, predictable.

"But we did," Robin sighed with a winch. After Star had found him, she had rushed him into the infirmary and had gotten him patched up, some fresh blood in his system via the supply everyone built up so they'd only have their _own _blood on stock. In a few weeks, days at the least, he'd be healed and ready to go. Raven's healing magic helped him out greatly, though that didn't ease the soreness, or the memories of how that thing had nearly killed him. No amount of training or shock therapy could prepare you for having real-life blades biting through your flesh.

"We _all _did," Beast Boy tacked on. After taking down that Samuraibot, his outfit was in tatters as well, his body covered in slash marks. None of them were fatal, but he still bled a great deal all over the halls as he made his way back to the Ops Center. Out of everyone, Star was the best off, given her alien invulnerability to mostly everything, so the red head had helped the majority of them back to the Ops Center after sending out their own SOS. It was not without surprise that the T-Comms had survived everything that had been thrown at them up to this point, Vent's own T-Comm notwithstanding. As for the sword he collected, which was a high-grade nano fiber which could slice through ablative plating like butter, he kept it on a mantle in his room until he actually learned to use it _correctly_.

"I've regained access to the computer. Security codes and encryption strings have all been reset," Cyborg said looking up from the monitor on his forearm.

"And all enemy surveillance technology has been located and destroyed," Starfire said with a small smile.

"Problem is, Terra gave Slade more than just secret codes and hidden cameras. She gave him _us_. Our flaws, our weaknesses, everything he'd ever need to know," Raven said with a cross expression.

"It doesn't matter. When Slade makes his next move, we'll be ready," Robin said punching his palm.

"Yeah. And Terra will be right in the middle of it," a familiar voice said as the doors -_**whoosh-**_ed open.

"Friend Ventus, you are... _not_, without harm," Starfire quickly amended what would've been a joy-filled greeting as the brunette came in. His clothes were a mess, his hair knotted and tangled, the visible parts of his body covered in bruises, his right eye swollen shut, and blood trailing down from a busted lip.

"No, ow…" the brunette groaned as he made his way to the nearest chair and sat down. "No I am not," he sighed as he looked around, the place looking like something out of an episode of DBZ after someone used a massive ki attack.

"What happened, man? It looks like someone threw you under a train," Cyborg gaped. The brunette was a total _wreck_.

"I may as well have been. Slade totally kicked my ass, and rubbed it in my face that everything going on was my fault," the brunette sighed, letting his face fall into his palms.

"Vent, how is any of this _your _fault?" Raven asked, the fact that they were only _marginally _outnumbered notwithstanding.

* * *

><p>"At least friend Ventus is alright. Though not without harm it may be," Starfire said after their friend had explained everything, shoulders slumped as he limped off to his room. Raven asked that he sit still long enough for her to heal him, but he refused, saying it was something he'd rather sleep off than bother her over. Her time would be better spent helping repair the tower than, in the brunette's own words, "patching up a foolhardy idiot who couldn't even save one friend after he threw himself into the lion's den head-first." A little wordy and un-philosophical for the mage's tastes, but she respected her wishes since, even though there were no consequences to her healing magic on the body, it could still be considered an invasion of privacy to mess with another person's anatomy.<p>

"Do you really think what he said about all this being his fault is true?" Cyborg asked. "He's basically trying to take the bum rap for all this, and it isn't the first time either."

"It doesn't matter if it's true or not," Robin sighed as she leaned back in her seat. "Terra betrayed us, and we _all _have to deal with the consequence regardless of whose fault it is or isn't. It'll take _weeks _and _thousands _of taxpayer dollars to get everything back up to par, if not _months _and _millions_."

"Well that's what our arrangement with the city is for. The money we save dealing with super villains will be funneled towards getting everything in the Tower repaired, and then we'll _stop _Slade," Raven interjected. The system really _was _ingenious, since collateral damage was _always _worse when superheroes didn't get involved, even when it didn't seem like it. Of course, guys like Superman throwing tanker trucks and blowing them up with heat vision to destroy giant robots didn't help the stigma any.

"But what of Terra? What will be done about her?" Starfire asked worriesomely. Ventus' tale of how Terra had "gone to the dark side" was rather... depressing.

"That's all one big gray area right now," Robin sighed as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "With the information we have, it's hard to tell if Terra's doing this of her own volition, or if she's being manipulated by Slade's mind games. Cyborg, I need full-spectrum body scans. If Slade pulled another _Slade _on us," he said referring to the time Slade probed them with nanobots, "I don't want us to be caught with our pants down."

"But Robin, why would our pants be down?" Starfire asked. "Come to think of it, myself and Raven do not even _wear _pants, and neither does Cyborg, so how would _we _be caught with the pants down?"

"It's a figure of speech," Raven stated plainly.

"Well… Our tower may be trashed, our halls looking like Swiss cheese, our living room with more craters than the dark side of the moon and a trench like something out of Dragon Ball Z…" Cyborg counted off, mourning the loss of his sofa. "But at least our T-Box survived," he said pushing a sheet of debris aside, revealing the somehow-pristine drink dispenser as he looked on the brighter side. "T-Box, command: Root beer," he said raising his hand, the white-and-blue box hissing before the top opened, a robotic arm bursting from the ice before it threw an ice-cold root beer through the air to him.

"Command: Diet coke," Robin ordered, a second arm bursting from the ice and tossing a can of diet soda towards him.

"Command: Green tea," Raven ordered as well, the first arm dipping back down and tossing a bottle of chilled tea towards her.

"Command: Zorkaberry juice," Starfire then said raising her hand, only for a question mark to appear over her head when the arms dipped back below the ice and the lid shut after a negatory buzzing sound left its speaker.

"I… don't think you know how it works," Cyborg then said awkwardly as he twisted the crack off the bottle.

"Friends, I know that Ventus went off to remove the robots from our halls, but where is Beast Boy? I do not see him here with us," Starfire said twitting her thumbs since she didn't have something to drink like the others. What happened moments ago was a tad embarrassing, even with her _naivety _to shield her consciousness from an overwhelming feeling of self-doubt.

"Don't know," Raven sighed as she sipped her tea. Best to leave a sleeping dog _–even if it was Beast Boy-_ alone.

* * *

><p><strong>Meanwhile at the Windy Bar…<strong>

"So… Girl troubles huh?" Beast Boy asked behind Vent's minibar, a bar tender outfit and moustache on as he polished a mug in his hand.

"Cut the crap Beast Boy. I'm not in the fucking mood," the brunette cut harshly, causing the changeling to instantly deflate. At the moment the brunette was sloshing a brandy on the rocks in his hand, which, when you consider the stressful environment most superheroes worked in, especially the younger set, it was understandable why he would be drinking at this time of day. Though some would debate the ethics of underage drinking, _they _weren't the ones that got their heads beaten like a drum, so they could shove it up their noses.

"Sorry, man. Thought it'd cheer you up," the changeling sighed as he stripped off his bar tender outfit. It took for_ever _to find the right fake moustache for it.

"It'll take a lot more than some half-assed joke to make _me _happy right now," the brunette grumbled as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm sorry, man. That was totally uncalled for, and I apologize. It's just… She was right there. I _literally _could've reached out and toucher her. I should've done something, _anything_, but then Slade got up behind me and-"

"There wasn't anything you could do. This is _Slade _we're talking about," Beast Boy interjected. "The guy can go toe to toe with Batman, and _he _went one-on-one against _Darkseid_. And _lived_."

"You just don't get it Beast Boy…" the brunette growled as his hand tightened around his glass. "I didn't just lose. I flat-out _failed_! I should've taken Slade down and brought Terra home… but I didn't… and now she's out there somewhere, that nut job filling her head with who _knows _what sort of nonsense!"

"What did you _think _you were supposed to do? Just up and _kill _him? Dude, we're superheroes. Superheroes don't _do _stuff like that."

"Not all of us had the liberty of being a superhero since day _one_!" the brunette snapped back as his grip continued to tighten, a vein in his forehead beginning to bulge and a fresh dose of adrenaline entered his system. "In the year before Slade found me, I lied, cheated, and stole from everyone I came across. I picked pockets and stole food just so I could survive, I left other kids my age bleeding in the gutter when they tried to take my turf, I hauled drugs for dealers, and I kept quiet to every bad thing happening around me when people started asking questions for a cheap buck. Face it, compared to everyone here, I'm just a worthless piece of _SHIT_!" he shouted as the glass finally shattered in his grip, the changeling's eyes going wide before they narrowed, his hand gripping the brunette's hair and forcing him to look into narrowed eyes.

"That's ENOUGH!" he shouted with narrowed eyes. "I am so sick and _tired _of all this self-indulgent _bullshit _leaving your mouth! I get it, you messed up in the past, a _lot_, and you messed up _now_, a _lot_, but if you don't quit _moping about _on your ass, get over it, and move on, you'll never be able to make things _right _again!"

"Beast Boy…"

"I'm not done talking!" the changeling shouted, displaying more strength than most would give his green bean-like form for possessing. "Everyone makes mistakes! We _all _do! We're only human! So quit acting like you're in this by your own and _trust _us! Trust the team you helped found so we can get Terra back from Slade, and everything can go back to NORMAL!" he finally finished, chest heaving in and out as he greedily sucked air into his lungs, the brunette's eyes wide before they fell to the counter, then to his bleeding hand, shards of glass prickling his flesh as the sensation of pain finally reached his brain.

"Beast Boy…" Vent said as he began picking glass out of his hand. "Thank you… I really needed that."

"What're friends for," the changeling sighed in return as he ran his hands through his hair. Normally he wasn't one to get so angry, despite his jealousy of the brunette having so much history with his favorite blond, but he wasn't one to let his friends wallow in their failure either. "Now then, we should probably have Raven look at that hand, huh?" he asked as he began to clean the counter, brushing the shards of glass and the ruined piece of glassware into the tin trash bin behind the counter.

"Before you do that, I want to run an idea by you that'll let us screw Slade over in the worst way possible," the brunette said after Beast Boy walked around the counter, the greenette pausing mid-step before a wide grin pulled its way across his face, showing he was at the least _interested _in what the brunette had to say.

* * *

><p><strong>On note of the "scene" between Ventus and Terra inside the elevator, while a part of my mind was tempted to take things further (there's nothing worse than a pervert who won't admit he's a pervert, and I <em>am <em>a pervert since to some extent EVERYONE is), I remembered this was still a T-Rated fanfiction. While I may've cut it close, I decided Slade should've cut the moment short before they began discarding clothing. Terra may've gotten to second base with Ventus (for all of five seconds), but Slade cut the moment short before he could return the favor.**

**Before any of you ask why I made Beast Boy's blood "green-tinted", to put it in its simplest form that's just my own fanon. If his blood weren't green, the red veins across his body would stand out more, and he'd be a brownish color like the time Cyborg put red dye in his shampoo. ****As for the fight scenes themselves, they'd been sitting incomplete for months so if the finished products have some errors, then that was just because I didn't want to read them over for the 100th time and re-edit. If I did this chapter would've NEVER come out.**

**With that out of the way, here are the disclaimers.**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own Legend of Korra (Tenzin's Air Scooter, minus the slicing and hula hoop usages) or ****Naruto (Rock Lee and/or Maito Gai's moveset). I do not own the things Slade's modified Sladebots resemble (full disclaimer on that note next chapter). The "four liters" thing was taken from Deadman Wonderland, which _centers _around the loss and applications of blood.**

**P.S.  
>A topic that came to mind after an Anonymous Review I received a while back was what VentVentus/Vincent **_**sounds **_**like. Honestly, I never put a voice to him as I wrote his dialogue out. If I said he sounded like me, that wouldn't be saying very much, so I'll just throw a couple names out there for what he sounds like, see if anyone has any suggestions that would fit him.**

**At the moment I'm thinking that Vent sounds a bit like a mix Axl from the **Mega Man X** series and Train Heartnet from **Black Cat**, whereas Future Vent's voice would be a combination of Spider from **Mega Man X: Command Mission** only with a more level tone and Zero from the **Mega Man Zero** series.**

**If you have your own ideas for what he should sound like, drop me a line and I may reconsider the sound of his voice. If it matters enough to comment that is.**


	30. Aftermath & Resolve for the Future

After the Sladebot's mounted assault on Titans Tower, word spread that the team was out of action like wildfire, and crime rates rose proportionally. Cyborg would _definitively _be out of action until his chassis could be reset without damaging the delicate components within such as, oh I don't know, _life support_. Robin's body was still tender and extremely sensitive even after his slash wounds were healed via magic, so he was kept back as to not re-open his wounds. Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Ventus handled crime levels in the city for the next couple days while Robin helped Cyborg repair his chassis back inside the Tower. Starfire experienced next to no real physical damage after the fighting, leaving Raven to finish up Beast Boy and Ventus' treatment after Robin before they got to work.

Crime rates had in _fact _risen to the point where local law enforcement found it difficult to handle the criminals, psychos, and sexual deviants, but none were able to overcome Starfire's super strength, Beast Boy's faunal transformation, Raven's magic, or Ventus' ability to asphyxiate criminals at the drop of a pin. Seeing such a thing in person only cemented the sentiment among the team that, had Ventus remained Slade's apprentice with his powers in tow, that only those who _didn't _rely on oxygen had any kind of chance against him. After a few crime-busting runs by the Titans, a show of force that they were still up and kicking, crime settled down to enough of a degree that the Titans could begin to recover uninterrupted. Though the windows had been boarded up with the titanium-kevlar lockdown shutters, no real repairs had yet been undertaken, and the Sladebots more or less left where they lay until they were collected and disposed of.

* * *

><p>The following moment after the police began to knuckle down giving the Titans time to recover, the Teen Titans were finally able to sit down as a "family" and enjoy a hearty breakfast together. Given they had been nuking hotpockets in the microwave and taking them on the go, eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast was like a godsend to the exhausted teen heroes. Though they had slept like logs the night before, they still had a few bags beneath their eyes which would require further sleep to... sleep off.<p>

"Well... After the way Vent terrorized those thugs the other day, crime seems to have stopped almost altogether," Robin said putting down the newspaper, Beast Boy entertaining himself with the funnies after having made himself a hat with the Real Estate section.

"Well, being suffocated out of thin air with _no _air tends to leave that sort of impression," Cyborg commented as he yanked the hat off of BB's head and unfolded it. Seeing what it was he crumpled it up and tossed it to the side. The Real Estate section was for schmucks anyway.

"I have never _seen _remorseless criminals so terrified of someone a decade younger than them in my life," Starfire commented as she wolfed down platefuls of sausage and bacon. Despite how feminine she had become once she had gotten out of that prisoner's uniform, as it turned out her people did not know the concept of table manners. Closest thing there was on her planet to them was storming the buffet line and stuffing your face.

"Quite," Raven added amidst her chatty friend's statement.

"I still don't think you should be throwing around your powers that way," Robin said jabbing a stabbed sausage in his general direction. "Trust me, it took the League for_ever _to get the people to stop being afraid of people with superpowers after what the government pulled."

"I thought that was because of the giant space weapon pointed straight _down_," the brunette retorted outside a mouthful of eggs.

"Moving on to other conversation," Raven cut in before the two boys started bickering with one another. "Did you manage to find anything off of those specialized Sladebots?"

"Nothing we didn't already know," Cyborg said cracking his neck, thankful he could do so without his head rolling off. "That robot with the razor claws was made to counter Robin's speed and close-range fighting style, the one with density manipulation was made to nullify Star's energy bolts, that _big _one was meant to stop me in my tracks, the bat-shaped one that went after Raven could weave around whatever she threw at it, and the samurai one that was gunning for BB was designed to cut him and any animal he turned into to ribbons."

'_Those descriptions...' _the brunette mulled over to himself as he downed a few gulps of OJ. "Hey guys, I might be over-thinking something here, but tell me..." Vent said as he got up from his seat and onto the console and typed on a few keys. "Did the things that attack you look anything liiike..." he said typing some more as the holographic screen came up, "_this_?" he asked pressing the **ENTER **key. In a flash five pictures of differently-shaped black-clad ninja-like figures appeared on the screen. It took a few seconds, but the Titan's eyes widened at the depicted ninja's similarities to the specialized Sladebots they'd faced the other night.

"Yeah! That's exactly right!" Cy blurted out before looking at the brunette warily. "How'd you know what to look up?"

"First off, while I used to be _ashamed _of being Slade's apprentice in the past, I can't help but be embarrassed now that I see the similarity," the brunette sighed rubbing the bridge of his nose, turning away from the team in embarrassment.

"What similarity, dude?" Beast Boy asked.

"More or less, you all know I was Slade's apprentice," the brunette began, earning nods from the bunch. "During my time with him, while he wanted a cruel and effective tool, he also didn't want it to be _completely _without emotions, because if I became a robot, then it would be easy for a person to manipulate me with logic if I were trained to run solely on _that _to dictate my actions. That's why Slade would have me watch a certain TV series that would give me the outside stimulation I needed, while limiting the unnecessary thoughts that entered my mind as well. That series just so happened to be the Jackie Chan Adventures series," he said pulling up a clip of the show's opening, showing a cartoon version of Jackie Chan fighting ninja-like figures in differing locales across the world, all the while screaming his head off. "Whether you know it or not, and I've only recently remembered this myself, but Slade actually made his Sladebot army to act like the Shadowkhan from the series; His own personal army ready at a moment's notice, superhuman in range of skill and ability, as well as 100% obedient to no one but him," he said causing the others to fall into varying states of shock. Mostly because of the fact that Slade had based his robot army off of something from a car_toon_. "While we were watching the fourth season, I _may _have accidentally suggested making some of the Sladebots more specialized for _specific _tasks than the cannon fodder."

"So then this is _your _fault?!" Robin shouted throwing his arms to motion to the destroyed Tower around them, only for his hands to suddenly go to his sore sides. Seemed he wasn't fully recovered yet.

"Hey, I was only a _kid _back then, and I didn't think he'd take it _seriously_!" Vent raged back. "Besides," he huffed as he attempted to regain some composure. "Even if I _didn't _make that suggestion, his is the kind of mind that would've eventually come to this conclusion by itself, with or with_out _my help. It seems that now, he's seen fit to put these specialized units into action, specifically to exploit our weaknesses that Terra… gave to him," he said the last part with sagging shoulders. "I'll be back in a bit. I've got robot corpses to haul out," he said as he left, the others deciding to give him the space he needed.

* * *

><p>"Slade..." Vent said to himself as he walked the halls just outside the Ops Center, the battle-scarred halls testament to what had happened only nights ago. "How long are you going to keep badgering me? Of course, I can't be 100% sure if my presence here influenced your decision to use those specialized <em>units <em>or not, but still..." he sighed as he dragged one of the robots onto the pile with the others, unaware of the cycloptic red eye gazing at him from the shadows completely unnoticed. "Maybe if it were _here_, instead of there, I could've convinced Terra to help us."

Bending down to pick up another corpse and put it on the pile with the others, the sound of metal bodies being thrown into the ceiling rung through the hall air, followed by the sound of many metal feet scuttling towards him. Whirling around, he caught sight of a black and red-orange blur rushing towards him, his eyes widening when the thing raised a bladed forearm and slashed at him. Backpedaling as quickly as he could, the brunette underestimated the thing's reach, a gash across his chest from his left shoulder to his right hip _–perpendicular to the one on his back- _being what he had to show for it.

'_What the hell?!' _he cried out as he clutched his now-bleeding chest, looking up at the thing that attacked him out of nowhere. It had four insectoid legs with barbs on what would be its thighs, an angular base with a spindly waist supporting a red-orange triangle-shaped upper body. Its arms were long and mantis-like, sharp blades at the tips with a number of barbs running down its pincers and arms, a rounded angular face with an angled slat serving as his eyes.

"Gotta call the others!"he said as he drew his T-Comm from his pocket and flipped it open. Before he could make the call however, the thing's right claw sliced through both the device, and his right _palm_. Almost immediately he recoiled, dropping the device's blood-stained halves to the floor as he clutched his hand, the thing almost sliced clean off and all but useless. '_Damn! Have to get to get to the others!' _he told himself as he ran, berating himself for being caught so off-guard like that. Unfortunately for him, the mantis-like Sladebot caught wind of his plans the moment he turned around, because as soon as he did, the "Mantisbot" scuttled down the hall after him, transitioning to the wall, and then the ceiling before dropping down in front of him, extending its long mantis-like arms and establishing a barrier between the brunette and his team.

'_Shit!' _the brunette told himself as he got in a defensive stance, despite how pathetic he looked at the moment. His right hand was barely hanging on by a couple bones and a few flaps of flesh, the red stain on his shirt spreading across his chest, and with his right eye as swollen as it was he was fighting half blind. Ironically or not, it was the same way _Slade _always fought; with an insurmountable obstacle he was forced to and _had _overcome.

Without a moment's pause the thing lashed out at him once more with its barbed arms, the brunette weaving around to the best of his ability, the walls, floor, ceiling, and of course himself becoming lined with gashes and cuts. Every time the brunette tried to throw a punch with his free hand, the sliced one began to split open and he had to hold it in one piece to stifle the bleeding, barely biting back the pained yelp from his frayed nerves. When he tried to lash out with kicks, the thing kicked back with its short insect-like legs before slashing him with its arms, the barbs tearing through his clothing and flesh, turning him into a bloody mess. When he attempted to fall back to a more favorable location, preferably somewhere he could fly out into the open air where he was at his best, his foot was caught on a discarded arm and he stumbled backwards, fumbling desperately to regain his balance. By the time he had, the thing was already upon him, right forearm raised and poised to strike.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile back in the Ops Center after Vent had left, the team continued to talk amongst themselves, or at least when they were sure the brunette in question was out of hearing range.<p>

"So then we need to step up our game, level the playing field," Robin said nursing his throbbing side. Had that hit been any deeper, he could've seriously died back then, and if he were a bit faster, that fight would've been a _lot _easier to handle, instead of the other way around.

"More like _level grind_," Cy grumbled. "Man, that sumo-bot nearly broke me in _half_," he groaned as he rubbed his back. It took _forever _to fix that part of his body.

"If we're going to get strong enough to weather the oncoming storm, we'll have to do so soon, and _quickly_," Raven noted.

"Friend Ventus seems to be taking all this _especially_ hard," Starfire noted worriedly.

"Yeah well, he has a lot to own up for," Robin grumbled with crossed arms. "He just took off without letting anyone know, and look what happened. We were completely outnumbered on all sides."

"I'm at fault as well," Raven interjected. "I had my suspicions when Terra got back, and I should've acted on them. Instead I ignored my intuition and gave Terra the benefit of the doubt when we didn't know anything about her," she growled as her hands tigtened around her cup. _'I should've taken that bitch down when I had the chance,' _a darker part of herself growled, and for once, she agreed.

"Besides, one more person wouldn't have made that much difference," Cy said with crossed arms. "We should probably be glad Terra took Vent out like she did. If she had attacked us during that fight like Slade probably _would've _had her do, I don't think any of us would even be _having _this conversation right now."

"_**GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH !**_" an ear-piercing scream suddenly cut through the air, the team's eyes widening.

"VENT/VENTUS!" the team cried when they realized who screamed, the raw emotion she had felt washing over Raven like a tidal wave when the noise hit her ears. Not hesitating for a moment, Cyborg blew out the door with his cannon and the others rushed into the hall ahead of him, the group collectively gasping at the sight that greeted them.

The walls were splashed with crimson blood, and lying on the ground in the featl position was their friend Ventus, looking like he'd been dragged through barbed wire with all the blood pooling out underneath him; a sight that caused a few of their stomachs to lurch. There was a bloody gash going down the left side of his forehead, cutting through his eye and ending at his jaw, both hands clutched to his face. Standing over him was a tall mantis-like Sladebot, its bladed arms caked with blood, the right one being raised for another strike. The prone brunette made no effort to dodge.

"_**NO!" **_Raven roared as she drew both arms back, tracing black lines through the air before throwing the _shadow darts _through the air, the magical projectiles punching through the thing's chassis like a rock through wet tissue paper. The machine stumbled back as the holes in its chest sparked, only for the well-built machine to regain its footing and raise its arm once more to strike down at the suffering teen, the pool of blood underneath him slowly growing. Before it had the chance to fulfill its programming, a green ankylosaurus tail suddenly swooped in and smashed its back legs out from under it, causing the thing to fall on its back. It wedged the tips of its forearms into the floor and attempted to rise once again, only for Robin to swoop in and stomp it back down, slapping an exploding disk onto its chest before shielding the brunette with himself and his cape, the disk going off a moment later. Before countermeasures could be taken, a pair of emerald-colored lasers sheared off its left arm, bisected it at the waist, and took off the right arm. Its computer stalling at the unexpected inability to fight back, the last thing it saw was Cyborg's fist cracking its visor, its auditory sensors picking up the familiar _***WHIRR***_of the teen's sonic cannon before the beam punched clear though.

When the dust finally settled, all that was left was a collection of discarded limbs, a blown-out torso, and a hole going all the way through the Tower to the open air below. Looking up once the sudden burst of adrenaline _-or what was equivalent in one alien's systems- _had died down, the team saw a trail of blood droplets leading through the Tower and towards the infirmary. Looking back to the body, they each got one last shot in to make sure the thing stayed down for good before running to the infirmary. The puddle left behind had to have contained at _least _two quarts of blood, and the brunette was only losing more with every second that went by.

Arriving at the end of bloody breadcrumbs, the team found themselves standing before the Tower's infirmary. About to enter and inquire about the condition of the downed Titan, Cyborg suddenly cut them off before pointing directly above the door, motioning to the red surgical light mounted over the door frame. The thing had been put in for when Raven needed the utmost concentration and absolutely _zero _distractions, but seeing it actually being used like this… under these circumstances… As they fell to their knees or against a wall, the sound of pained cries filling their ears, they realized right then what Ventus must've felt when Slade had taken Terra away.

They now knew what it felt like to lose. No... Lose wasn't strong enough a word.

_Fail _was the word on their minds, Slade's visage appearing in front of them, his cycloptic gaze seemingly _mocking _them for their failure to protect their friend.

* * *

><p>For a half-hour straight, the sounds of agonized cries filled the air, suffering so palpable you could cut it with a knife leaving the infirmary, and with his condition likely at critical, Raven didn't have the liberty of applying a sedative. Though she continued to tell him it'd be alright, that she'd save him and he just had to hold on, as things got quieter, the Titans became more tense with each passing second. Eventually the pained cries became whimpers, and those outside came to terms with what they had borne witness to. Robin faced the nearest wall and beat the paneling with his fists, berating himself for letting something like that happen. Starfire had been pacing up and down the hall non-stop, almost wearing a groove into the floor. Cyborg wirelessly monitored the brunette's vitals and what was being used; three blood transfustions had already been injected and the defribulator used twice. Beast Boy simply sulked in the corner, not even in the mood for one of <em>his <em>jokes.

"We should've known that thing was there…" Robin growled as he punched the wall once more. "How could we have _missed _that?"

"There was nothing we could've done," Cyborg sighed when he was finally satisfied with the steadiness of the brunette's vitals. "That thing wasn't giving off any wireless signals from surveillance equipment. At the time we weren't looking for any _survivors_, just cameras and listening devices."

"Yeah, I mean, who ever heard of a robot knowing how to play _possum_?" Beast Boy asked. The image of the brunette lying in a pool of his own blood playing through his mind. "Dude, that's just messed up."

"But we should not have simply let friend Ventus carry this heavy burden upon his own shoulders," Starfire said as she continued to pace, an oval-shaped grove now worn into the floor. "We should have insisted that we help him remove the robot corpses."

"Yeah, well we didn't, and now Vent's paying for it," Robin grumbled with his forehead pressed against the wall. The next moment the red surgical light shut off, everyone simultaneously looking up from what they were doing, a somber-looking Raven stepping out of the room. The normally stoic mage looked more frightened then when Wicked Scary had gone horribly wrong, and for a few moments her hands shook, blood that wasn't her own staining her palms and her skin a few shades paler. Closing her eyes and shaking her head, she took a deep breath before regaining a neutral expression, a few cracks having appeared on the doors behind her.

"So…"

"How is he?" Star asked finishing Robin's sentence, her hand seeking refuge with his own, the Boy Wonder squeezing back reassuringly.

"He's..." Raven said choking back a sob. "He's fine," she sighed as she reeled in her emotions. "I haven't tried healing three injuries at once, especially those that deep, but I did it... _I did it..._" she sighed as she blinked the tears out of her eyes, though they were concealed by her cowl. "I was able to heal the slash across his chest, which will leave minimal scarring. I was also able to patch his hand back together," she said lifting the team's spirits. "However..." she said putting a damper on the Titan's rising mood. "That's where the good news ends, and it only gets worse," she said causing a knot of anxiety to coil up in the team's stomachs. "The damage to his face and eye are deep, his only saving grace in that regard being the blade made as clean a cut as it had, otherwise the damage would've been more difficult to heal. I repaired as much of the damage as I could, however... while I've bended bone and healed flesh in the past, repairing something as complicated and delicate as a visual organ will require more time and research, and I can't guarantee whether it'll be able to recover."

"Well hey now, it isn't like his superhero career will end just because of something like _this_," Beast Boy said trying to lighten the mood. "I mean, there are _plenty _of people who kick butt with only one working eye, most of the time. Kakashi Hatake, Sven Vollfied, Roronoa Zoro, Cross Marian, Kenpachi Zaraki-"

"This isn't like one of your stupid car_TOONS_!" Raven snapped, having heard all she could stand. "In case you hadn't noticed, this is _real _life! Not a stupid _anime _or a fairytail!" she said as a quartet of red eyes glared at the changeling, piercing his very soul with their cold gaze. "Because of this oversight, on _all _our parts, one of our own was taken down on our watch! I don't care what reasons she had for betraying the team like this. Next time I see her, I will make Terra _pay _for doing this to him," she snarled, her fists clenched and a wall of ebony flames rising behind her. Seeing the others step back in fright, the mage clamped her eyes shut before counting backwards from a hundred to one, the rage willing up inside her eventually subsiding.

"Can... Can we see him?" Starfire asked worriedly.

"Yeah... Yeah, you can," Raven acknowledged as her hands went to the door's handles, a finger going to her lips to signal silence, before slowly opening the door. When the room's sole occupant came into view, Starfire burst into tears and sobbed into Robin's shoulder, the spiky-haired teen rubbing her back though not looking away from the sight in front of him, Beast Boy falling to his knees when the gravity of the situation finally settled onto him, and Cyborg fought back the tears welling up from his remaining human eye.

Laying slightly reclined in the bed on sheets stained red, now clad in a blue medical gown, was their friend Ventus, but in the worst shape they'd ever seen him in. All of his head except for his right eye, nose, mouth, and a few tufts of hair on the right side of his head, were covered in bandages, a thick pad of gauze over his left eye. His skin was several shades paler than the tan it had been before, there was a tube delivering oxygen to his lungs snaking its way into his body through his nose, and the IV administering another transfusion of blood to his system as well as the weakly pulsing electrocardiograph made him look so frail... so vulnerable. His chest, as well as most of his arms and legs, particularly his right hand, were covered in bandages as well.

Seeing him like this, Robin regretted snapping at him the way he did at breakfast, because with how the teen looked now, it almost seemed like he would never be able to apologize. Aside from herself, Cyborg, and Beast Boy, Ventus was one of the most lively people in the Tower, and seeing him in this state, as though he'd shatter like glass if she tried to touch him, broke her heart. Cyborg could only clench his fist, thinking back to the accident that had robbed him of most his body, and how he was once on a medical bed like the brunette was now. Beast Boy could only hug his arms around himself, clamping his eyes shut as he tried to cast off the sight of his friend in such a broken state out of his mind, his time with the Doom Patrol having never prepared him for something of this magnitude.

_"You... should probably go..." _Raven murmured softly. _"I'll__... stay here for the night, in case his condition... worsens," _she said sullenly, the other nodding grimly as they returned to their rooms, the will to do anything else completely gone. Once the doors had closed behind them, Raven allowed the sobs she'd been holding back to wrack her body. As streams of tears flowed down her face from each eye, her blue cloak slowly flashed to the same red that now stained it, but ultimately, it changed to a dull gray as she fell to her knees, her hands going to the brunette's left hand as she quietly sobbed.

* * *

><p>It felt like hours since the others had left, the sun having set set beyond the horizon without her noticing. Not once in all that time did she take her hands from his as she watched his sleeping face, his body so cold, and barely hanging on to life. Whenever his bandages would become too red, she'd strip them off and replace them with new ones, but only after applying whatever healing magic she could. Despite her best efforts the wound across his chest would scar, the one in his palm likely to follow, and she didn't dare to touch the one on the left side of his head until she was sure what she was doing.<p>

Nighttime eventually fell, and for once the city was quiet, the mage having not left Vent's side since. Clasping her hands around his own cold one, her sullen eyes glanced to the electrocardiograph off to the side, the lines representing his pulse jumping weakly every couple seconds. She'd refilled the blood transfusion packet a couple of times, and she was finally satisfied with his red cell count, his complexion regaining some of its color. But even then he didn't wake. He didn't move. Looking up, knowing that even though she wasn't one of _his _children, instead sired by something far more sinister, she begged, _pleaded _that her friend be okay. That even if he couldn't be a hero ever again, that he'd just wake up...

_"Just wake up... Vincent, please..." _Raven pleaded as she clutched his hand, bringing the back of it to her cheek, wishing he were able to wipe away her tears. Looking up once more, her hood down revealing her face was wet with tears, she wished there was something, anything she could do to help him wake up. Though she could heal the body, if the soul was weak, then both would surely perish.

Looking back down to his sleeping face, the tufts of visible hair waving slightly, she thought for a moment that maybe he was conscious enough to use his powers, and that he was trying to tell her he was alright, only to realize the air vent was right above them. Closing the shutters before she turned her attention back to him, words suddenly began to swell within her breast, and after a few minutes, she allowed them into the open air.

**I have changed  
>I have changed<br>Just like you  
>Just like you<strong>

**For how long  
>For how long<br>Must I wait  
>I know there's something wrong<br>**

**Your concrete heart isn't beating  
>And I've tried to<br>Make it come alive  
><strong>

**No shadows  
>Just red lights<br>Now I'm here to rescue you oh** she sung softly as she looked at he sleeping face, hoping if she continued to sing what was in her heart, wherever it came, that it would reach him.

**Oh I'm still alive  
>I'm still alive<br>But can not apologize, no**

**Oh I'm still alive  
>I'm still alive<br>But can not apologize, no  
><strong>

**So silent  
>No violence<br>But inside my head  
>So loud and clear<br>**

**You're screaming  
>You're screaming<br>Covered up with a smile I've learned to fear**

**Just sunshine  
>And blue sky<br>Is ****this all we get  
>For living here<strong>

**Come fire  
>Come fire<br>Let it burn and love come racing through** she sung, not yet aware that the strength of each heartbeat was slowly growing stronger.

**Oh I'm still alive  
>I'm still alive<br>But can not apologize, no  
><strong>

**Oh I'm still alive  
>I'm still alive<br>But can not apologize, no  
><strong>

**I've learn to lose  
>I've learn to win<br>I've turned my face against the wind  
><strong>

**I will move fast  
>I will move slow<br>Take me where I have to go  
><strong>

**Oh I'm still alive  
>I'm still alive<br>But can not apologize, no** she sung, feeling the words in her chest coming to an end as the melody leaving her lips died down. Squeezing the brunette's hand in her own once more, a new stream of tears flowing down her cheeks, her eyes suddenly widened.

Vincent Valentine... was squeezing back, and another wave of tears, but of joy, not sadness, cascaded down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>The next morning the exhausted Titans received the message Raven left on their T-Comms, and in various states of dress or undress they rushed to the infirmary as fast as their legs could carry them. Their morale immediately jumped through the roof as they saw Vent now reclining, the bandages off his head with the exception of those over his left eye. Watching Raven feed the brunette breakfast, Starfire knew she had never seen the mage happier than at that particular moment, and without knowing it began reciting the Poem of Gratitude for her friend's recovery; none of them even seemed to care she spoke nonstop with the intention of going through all six thousand verses. Beast Boy was able to sigh in relief, having felt like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Cyborg simply glad he didn't have to witness one of his friends go before <em>he <em>did. Robin however... while glad his friend had recovered, was all business a few minutes later.

"Vent... Surely you can't still be _defending _Terra after what happened," the spiky-haired teen said to the brunette, Raven dropping the fork in her hand when a wave of unbridled rage suddenly washed over her.

"You..." Vent growled through clenched teeth. "How _dare _you say something like that to me," he growled as he slowly leaned forward, his indicated pulse suddenly jumping like crazy. "Terra is _my _friend, and in case you don't remember, you chased her out by saying she had no control of her powers the time she was here before last." The brunette's blood pressure began to rise. "I don't know where you get off, thinking you can make my decisions for me." A vein in his forehead was now throbbing, and his face was beginning to turn red. "But if you think I'm just going to abandon her, _again_, YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING, TRAFFIC LIGHT!" he suddenly roared as he lunged at Robin, unbridled fury in his eyes. Before his hands could close around the teen's throat however, he suddenly stopped mid-lunge, his hands clutching his chest and he fell to the ground, dragging the IV down with him, his indicated pulse suddenly going erratic.

"Oh my god! Star! He's having a heart attack!" Raven cried as she tried to pull the brunette back onto the bed as he convulsed, the alien girl helping him back onto the bed and trying to stop him from flailing about. "You!" she shouted jabbing a finger at Robin. "Get out!"

"But-"

"GET _**OUT!"**_she suddenly roared, a psychic wave throwing Robin out of the infirmary and into the hallway, Cyborg and Beast Boy closing the door behind Robin and dragging him as far away from the infirmary as they could.

* * *

><p>"Dude, do you <em>seriously <em>not know when to keep your mouth shut?!" Beast Boy asked a few minutes later once they had found themselves back in the living room, the duo almost having tripped over the robot that mauled Ventus the other day.

"Yeah man, this is starting to get really old, really _fast_," Cyborg said as he tried to calm his beating heart, which he swore was denting the hell out of his chest plate.

"Seriously?! You're giving me crap _now_!? Look around you!" Robin shouted as he threw his arms out to the room around him, which hadn't changed much from yesterday. "No matter _how _you look at it, this is all _Terra's _fault!"

"And it's _your _fault Vent almost had the whole _barn _back there!" Cyborg shouted back. "Honestly, I don't know what Raven's going to do to you once she and Star are done in there, but I _really _hope there's something between me and you when that happens."

"Robin, you're not looking at things from _his _perspective," Beast Boy said slapping the back of his hand against his opposite palm. "Slade said the reason Terra joined him was because of what Vent _didn't _do while she was here. Not only does Vent believe it, but what if that really _is _the reason she betrayed us? What if _we _had something to do with Vent's action, or _in_action?"

"Wow, that's really deep, man," Cyborg said in surprise.

"Thanks. I try," Beast Boy said plainly before turning his attention back to Robin, who at the moment was really wishing there was a bad guy or something he could sic the changeling on.

* * *

><p>"Starfire..." Vent groaned a few minutes later once his heart had been calmed down. "Is it wrong of me to believe in Terra, even after all this?" he questioned. He could practically <em>taste <em>the tension between the two of them whenever he passed by, and the only reason he was even _talking _about this was because Raven had left the room to gather some of her spell books. Likely to help in the magical regeneration of his left eye.

"Well..." Starfire murmured as she pat his hand, trying to keep him calm until Raven returned. "The current straits _are _extenuating... But..." she hummed to herself before smiling brightly, the background behind her filling with pretty flowers. "I do not doubt friend Raven's ability to heal what has been harmed, since I do not yet think any of it is permanent. For the time being, I will believe in the you that believes in Terra," she said with a smile. "However... if she ever brings harm upon you again, I beg that you forgive me if I do not hold back against her once more."

"Hopefully that won't become an issue," Vent replied hopefully. "Oh, and Star. Thanks for listening."

"You are welcome," Starfire smiled. "Well, friend Raven has returned, so I will leave her to her duties," she said floating off as the mage entered the room, levitating a stack of books behind her, which she set down around her as she took a seat beside his bed.

"Alright, Vent, I think I may've found the necessary texts I'll require," she said motioning to the page of the book she was holding in her free hand. "Your eye has not yet begun to deteriorate, so it's possible I can still save your eye with only minimal scarring. However..." she said setting the book down at his bedside. "I can't promise you it won't hurt, or whether it'll be successful."

"Raven..." Vent said before taking her hand in his. "Last night... I didn't know whether I'd make it or not. I was lost, in the darkness, and for a time I was afraid I'd never wake up again..." he said somberly, and Raven squeezed back as her gaze turned to the floor. "However... I heard your voice," he suddenly said after a minute's pause, her eyes meeting his. "I heard it, and the emotions behind your words. Because of that, I was able to come back. I'm still alive... because you brought me back," he said giving her a soft smile, a genuine smile not made to cover up his deeper feelings. "I trust you with my life, and even if it hurts for a while, I know you'll get me through this... _You always have..."_ he said softly, the mage's face slowly blushing and she began to lean towards him when those words left his lips. Slowly, the brunette began to lean towards her as well, both their eyes becoming half-lidded and their lips brushed against one another, sparks passing through their bodies-

"Hey Vent, I thought maybe you could use some entertainment in here, so I thought I'd-" Beast Boy said carrying in a portable TV, only to suddenly drop it seeing what was happening at that very moment. "DUDE!" he suddenly blurted out, the two teen's eyes snapping open and their faces suddenly reddening, Ventus taking the book Raven had laid down on the bedside while Raven levitated the the whole _stack_, the changeling screaming like a little girl in the wake of the avalanche of old leather and yellowed paper.

_***WHAM-BIF-WHACK-THUD-POW-WHOOF-BOOSH!***_

"Uhhh..." Vent _uhhh_ed as the changeling finally went down, a steaming bump on the top of his head and his face covered in lumps.

"Ahem..." Raven said regaining some of her lost composure once she was sure the changeling had been knocked out. "Well then," she said facing the window away from the brunette, her hand going to her lips as she remembered the sudden spark that coursed through her body when their lips touched. "I guess I'd better get started, shouldn't I?" she questioned with a smile as her cloak flashed pink, levitating the pile of books over the changeling back into the room and closing the door like nothing had happened.

"Right..." Vent said as he idly scratched his cheek. _'That spark... I haven't felt it since...' _he thought to himself as Raven began to flip through the tomes floating around her.

* * *

><p>"Ow. Ow. Ow," Beast Boy groaned as Raven dabbed a cotton swab with alcohol onto Beast Boy's bruises.<p>

"Oh, quit being such a big baby," Vent groaned as he carefully flipped through some of Raven's books. He may not've been a magician by any stretch of the imagination, but it helped to know what kind of White Magic was being used on him.

"So... Tell me again what hit me?" Beast Boy asked, having no recollection of what he saw before opening the infirmary doors, when everything had suddenly gone black.

"A, uh... _Sladebot_, managed to get behind you, and uh... you got caught in the crossfire," Raven said shamelessly.

"Really? Well, thanks dude," Beast Boy said with a toothy grin. One of his teeth had gotten knocked out, but that was being fixed.

"Yeah... You're welcome," Raven sighed. _'Oh well. At least back_ then_ I was in control of myself.'_

* * *

><p>A few days later, Raven had finally discharged Ventus from the infirmary, saying it was safe for him to be moving around again, the Ops Center almost entirely repaired by then. His eye wasn't fully healed by <em>any<em> stretch of the imagination, but he had _some _feeling in it, so Vent happily told Raven that whatever she was doing, was working. It took a bit of convincing on his part, but Raven was oddly compliant in letting Vent use the Danger Room as long as it was on the lighter settings, so he could train for the fighting to come.

As for the Tower itself, the damage looked worse on the outside than it actually _was _on the inside, because once you got past the walls, ceilings, and floors being pock-marked with blaster holes, craters, and such, it wasn't really that bad. There were of course the occasional odd cases where entire portions of the wall or whole floors were blown out, but that was nothing a few day's work the city-sent repair crew couldn't fix. Superheroes the Teen Titans were, licensed contractors they weren't.

After everything relating to Terra and what would be done about her were finally put out on the table, the Titans respected Vent's wishes in allowing him to be the one to deal with the Sladebots strewn throughout the Tower as a form of self-penance. This was of course done on the condition that he keep the EMP Gun that Cyborg had made just in case another killer robot was playing possum. Eventually, all the Sladebots that weren't completely crushed, vaporized, or just plain blown up had been gathered off to the sides in neat piles, ready for disposal.

Communications and security had been brought back up the first morning after the attack, a statement made to the media sometime after. While the inner workings of the Teen Titans were kept on the down low from the general public, they were of course bound to notice the explosions, laser beams, and fires springing up all over the Tower during the attack. The official story went that Slade, the man who had terrorized Jump from the shadows before, had gotten inside the Titan Terra's head and had been psychologically manipulating her for several months prior to her returning to Jump. At first a fair portion of the team was opposed to such a story considering what Terra had done, but surprisingly Robin took the high road and reminded them that he too had been under similar straits in the past. After the attack, Cyborg had run full biometric scans on the team in case Slade had probed them a second time, and everyone had come back clean. However, if what Vent had said about Terra was true, than Slade didn't necessarily _need _to have probed the team to get the geokinetic under his banner.

Eventually, after all the windows had been replaced, a feeling of normalcy returned to the Tower, and everyone got back into the groove of things. After fighting villains and eating pizza, though things felt a bit empty, the team was able to hang out the same way they had before. No one really talked about Terra, Slade, or Vent's eye anymore, and for the most part they ignored the tabloids, the resident cyborg deleting a few strings from the internet cause it would be better for _everyone _if they did. The cybernetic teen swore up and down that tabloids were an invention of the first super villain in a plot to take over the world by demoralizing its most prominent figures.

"Friend Raven, I have something which I wish to inquire," Starfire said to the mage one morning as, while she was preparing another alien dish, the mage was distracting herself with a good book.

"Yeah?" she asked while taking a sip of her tea, happy that the living room was now as pristine as it had been before the attack.

"Are friends Beast Boy and Ventus really in a romantic relationship?" the Tamaranean asked, Raven spitting out her tea in a spray with wide eyes before she regained her composure. "I mean, friend Cyborg said that since all this had happened, that friends Beast Boy and Ventus had been bonding in the brotherly romance. However, to my knowledge they are not brothers, so I am greatly confused."

"Don't you mean… _bro_mance?" the mage asked wiping her mouth.

"Is that not what I said?" Starfire asked with her head slightly cocked to the side.

"There isn't any _romance _between them," Raven clarified. "They are merely good friends who understand one another, like Robin and Cyborg."

"Oh, I see," Starfire said nodding her head in understanding, going back to her cooking before another thought came to mind. "Friend Raven, between the two of us, do we have the female equivalent to the brotherly romance?"

" . . . I suppose we do," Raven admitted after a moment's thought. _Literally _walking a mile in another person's shoes _–even if most of it was flying-_ tended to bring two persons together, and the two of them _had _become good friends since then. She was best friends with Vent, Robin, Cyborg, and by extension Beast Boy as well, but there were just some things you couldn't do with or talk about with guys. "I think Cyborg called it a _wo_mance. Or something."

"Then I will happily participate in the womanly romance with you, friend Raven," Starfire said with a happy smile, a bright floral backdrop appearing behind her as she said so, though Raven for the most part ignored the alien girl's verbal tic. "I know that both Cyborg and Robin are currently repairing what parts of the Tower they are able, though I have not seen friends Ventus or Beast Boy all morning. Do you know where they went?"

"Well…" Raven pondered. "I know that Vent wend down to the _Danger Room_ to train and… get used to his eye. As for Beast Boy… I'm not his keeper," she said getting back to her book. A little dry wit and sarcasm helped her cope, since there were times when mere words provided more protection than even the strongest suit of armor.

"I see. Should we maybe drop by and see how they are doing?" Starfire asked.

"As the old saying goes, boys will be boys," Raven said as she continued to read.

"Of course they will be boys. They _are _of the male persuasion," Starfire replied as she got back to her cooking, Raven chuckling at Starfire's abuse of the English language.

* * *

><p>"Alright Dr. Slim, I want you to run DR Simulation: FMAB, Subroutine: Mannequin," the brunette said in the Danger Room at around the same time, having just finished an early breakfast as he stood in the middle of the room.<p>

"Acknowledged," Dr. Slim said from around him, the room flashing white before the area reconstructed itself with hardlight holograms. When the light faded, Vent was now standing in a large white room with pipes running along the ceiling, the entrance way to the back barricaded by a re-shaped wall of concrete, while in front of him was a large, ornate black gate that appeared to be made of stone. Soon a cacophony of groaning noises was heard, a number of white, hairless skeletaly thin hairless humanoids with singular eyes on their foreheads and red markings across their bodies shuffled out, much like zombies would. "For how long would you like the numbers to continue increasing?"

"Have it cap around a hundred or so. All other subroutines run as per usual," Vent said drawing out one of Robin's collapsible staves, bringing it out to the full length of six feet. At the moment he was wearing white and red athletic sneakers, loose-fitting blue jeans, and a black long-sleeved shirt with a blue sleeveless hoodie over it. By this point in time the majority of his body had been fully healed after a few sessions with Raven, and while he didn't want to admit it, her hands running along his body caused numerous... _thoughts_, to spring to the forefront of his mind. While he could control his body's visible tells to some extent, had Raven been reading his mind at inopportune times, she would've seen images of the two of them partaking in a number of intimate acts, similar to that which he and Terra...

Tearing his thoughts away from such things and focusing on the task at hand, he brushed his bangs over the left side of his face as he got ready to fight. He didn't require as many bandages as he did before, most of the damage now being in his eye, which remained covered by a thick piece of gauze and a white medical eye patch. The majority of the scarring was gone as well, so even when he had been out in Jump when not in the Tower, since he didn't wear such distinguishing clothing as the others, to most he was simply a teen with an eye injury; nothing more, nothing less.

"Very well then. Begin simulation," Dr. Slim stated as the first "wave" of Mannequin Soldiers marched forward, the brunette twirling the bo staff above his head before charging forward. The first one received a face full of staff and was sent to the side before another was struck in the sternum and sent flying. The many-against-one battle soon transformed from seemingly-random strikes to a beautiful dance of violence and grace, almost like a ballet only the other "performers" were getting the stuffing beaten out of them.

True to form, even when receiving hits that would incapacitate or even kill, the Mannequin Soldiers continued to get up and fight, despite the green "blood" leaking from their wounds. While the brunette was able to bat the things away once they had managed to surround him, he had to constantly turn his head to compensate for the glaring blind spot he now possessed in the left half of his vision. Slade may've been evil to the core, or at least from the perspective that others chose to see him in, but you had to commend the guy for being as skilled in combat as he was, despite the glaring weakness of having a huge blind spot to your right. It was as he thought these thoughts that one of the Mannequin Soldiers had managed to get past the perimeter the brunette had set up around himself and was about to take a bite into his shoulder, the brunette's remaining eye widening before the biggest frog he'd ever seen, over a foot long and maybe ten pounds, barreled into the side of the thing's head and knocked it over like a slimy green dodgeball to the head.

"Dude, if you were doing something like this, you should've _told _me. This looks _awesome_!" Beast Boy said after transforming back to his human from from a Goliath Frog, or Conraua goliath, the largest extant anuran, aka frog, on planet Earth.

"Right. I'll remind you next time," the brunette apologized before saying- "Mannequin over the left shoulder." In response, Beast Boy transformed into a large gorilla which, when the Mannequin bit down, was unable to bite through. The next moment Beast Boy grabbed the thing by the shoulders before yanking it free, using it as a club to beat several of the zombie-like soldiers back before throwing it through a few more.

"Vent, how do we _stop _these things?" Beast Boy said as he and the brunette went back-to-back.

"We don't. This is more of an _Endless Brawl _kinda thing," the brunette answered. "Unless you wanna go buck wild with the carnivores and tear them to shreds."

"I guess… Just don't tell any of the others if I get a little… too much into character," Beast Boy said shrugging his shoulders before transforming into a fierce lion.

"From a guy who's been where you are, I'll keep my mouth shut," the brunette said as he got back to the fight, the two roaring out as they lunged in opposite directions from one another.

* * *

><p>"More… weight…" Cyborg growled as he stood beneath the metal sled with weights being loaded in 100 lbs increments. The very same rig he's sworn off of after facing off against Atlas and winning his friends back. At this moment, the Limit Gauge in his arm was at <strong>180%<strong>. Truth be told the only reason he never took it out was because he was always so stoked seeing how far he could push it past the **100% **threshold.

"Cyborg, don't you think you're taking things a little too-" *_**THUNK* **_"-fast?" Robin asked from beside the controls, dropping another hundred pounds onto the Cyborg's shoulders. At the moment he was up to 900 lbs, nearing the **200% **he'd used when fighting Atlas. "Maybe you should ease into this-"

"No! Add more weight!" he ordered, Robin pressing the button and dropping another weight onto the Sled, the Limit Gauge on his arm reaching **200% **at the full thousand, a bead of sweat rolling down his right temple. "More!" *_**THUNK* **_"More!" *_**THUNK***_ "More!" *_**THUNK***_ "More!" *_**THUNK* **_"More!" *_**THUNK* **_"More!" he ordered six times in succession, the floor at his feet beginning to crater underneath him, sweat _pouring_ down the human half of his face as his Limit Gauge read **250% **at 1250 lbs.

_***THUNK***_

Scratch that. **260% **at 1300 lbs.

"Cyborg, if you keep this up, you're going to get yourself _totaled _again," Robin said in concern. Cyborg had certainly thought of everything when it came to his room, including a repair station that reminded him of the CAS out of Zoids: New Century, his entire walk-in-closet filled to the _brim _with replacement parts for every bit of his anatomy.

"And if I _don't _get stronger that Sumobot will do that _anyway_!" Cyborg snapped back as he kept from falling to his knees. His entire chassis had been absolutely _wrecked _after that hydraulic bear-hug that specialized Sladebot had put him through, and for the first time in a long time the entirety of his life support system had been out in the open air. Robin had recoiled upon seeing it, hell _he _did too the first time he got opened up for "maintenance", considering what happened to him had taken out everything below his waist. His lungs and heart had been repaired with next-generation cybernetics, though everything else had to be fabricated, like his digestive tract so his organic components could be kept alive. If anything _good _came out of becoming a cyborg, it was that he didn't have to go to the bathroom anymore.

That of course, made it a problem when something particularly _volatile _wanted to come back upstairs.

"Well yeah, I understand that," Robin said as his hand went to his side. "But all I'm saying is-"

"Don't you get it!? Vent almost _died_ back there! That means the same could happen to _any _of us!" Cyborg growled as he continued to bear the increased weight, the floor beneath him continuing to crack beneath the strain until his feet began to dig into the room's framework. "I may've gotten used to this body of mine… But I don't want anyone else to have to live this way… People always starin', whispering behind your back, callin' you a _monster_. I may not be 100% cybernetic, but I still don't have the liberty of calling myself fully _human _either. So there's no way in _hell_ I'm crawling back to my old man to tell him I need my friends _fitted _for a Cybernetic _Exoskeleton_!" he roared before he pushed the weight up over his head, the gauge on his arm almost fully shattering and in need of a new screen, the power he was putting out becoming immeasurable.

"Cyborg… I didn't know you felt so strongly about this," Robin said with wide eyes, setting the weighted sled into the **LOCK **position when the Cyborg stepped out from under it. "Listen, you might be part-machine, but even then, you're just as human as the rest of us, if not more. You can think for yourself and about others, experience emotions, and you can feel regret for the things you weren't or aren't able to do. That isn't something a _machine _is capable of," he said placing his hand on the Cyborg's shoulder.

" . . . Thanks man. I needed that," Cyborg said fist bumping with Robin after a moment of silence.

" . . . Cyborg?" Robin asked after a moment's silence.

"Yeah?"

"If it's alright… Can I ask _how _you got the body you did?" he asked, not wanting to step on any toes like in the past. At that Cyborg let out a sigh and closed his human eye, the cybernetic one in his left socket dimming before they both opened _–or just reactivated in the case of his left eye-._

"It happened during senior year…" the cyborg started as a first-person video recollection of past events, or flashback in layman's terms, began to play in front of his cybernetic eye. "My parents were scientists at S.T.A.R. Labs, working on some interdimensional gate or something…" he said as the lab's fluorescent lights, linoleum floors, and polished machinery appeared before his mind's eye. "The good news: It worked. The bad news:… There was something waiting for us on the other side," he said as a green blob-like alien burst through the interdimensional gate in his memories. "It… killed my mother, and dissolved most of my body," he told, causing Robin to gape openly. "When I woke up, I was on one of the lab's medical tables, my body encased in the carapace I'm in now," he said looking down at his hands, clenching them as he had back then. "I… I said a lot of things to my dad that I could never take back. I haven't talked to him in years," he said with a sigh as the words he had said that day played through his mind.

"Just _shut up_, old man. All my life you've _used _me, forced me to be what you _wanted _me to be . And all my life I _fought _you, but you won didn't you? Damn it, why didn't you just let me die? WHY? WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE!?,!?"

"So that's pretty much me," Cyborg said dropping his hands to his sides. "After that I was no longer allowed to compete in athletic competitions and my girlfriend broke up with me the moment she saw me, so I put as much distance as I could from my hometown, and eventually found myself here."

"Wow. I… I had no idea," Robin gaped.

"No… No you didn't," Cyborg sighed, though in all honesty it felt good to get this off his chest after so long.

"Well… I can see why you felt so strongly about that," Robin sighed, his hand going to his bad side. "To be honest, I was always a little jealous of you. The on-board weapons, communication systems, the powers... But I guess you don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore."

"I think the same thing every day," Cyborg thought back, wondering what it would be like to have his organic component age out underneath him while his cybernetic body more or less stayed the same. "Don't doubt your humanity. It's capable of amazing things most would think impossible."

"Hey, you've pulled off the impossible too," Robin reminded as he got to his feet, holding out a hand to help Cyborg up. "Now come on. You aren't the _only _one around here who needs training. I need to get faster and stronger, and you're the best sparring partner I could ask for."

"Even better than Black Canary?" the cyborg quipped with a raised brow. The blond was like a model and a superhero all wrapped into one eye-catching package. Her posters sold the best too, though the profits went to charity, as did the sales for posters of _other _superheroes.

"Don't ruin the moment," Robin sighed as he got into a fighting stance, Cyborg doing the same before the two charged at one another.

* * *

><p>For the last half hour, Vent and Beast Boy had been beating the living <em>–or not living- <em>daylights out of every Mannequin Soldier that had come their way. While Vent was slowly getting used to having one eye completely inoperable _–even if only for a time-_, without the constraints of witnesses who could become frightened of him, Beast Boy combined the use of a diverse _–yet not uninspired- _set of animals to take down anything that had gotten near him; goliath frog, gorilla, lion, and boar. Eventually the hardlight holograms registered enough damage to the creatures they were amulating and stayed down, the duo fighting through the skin of their teeth until every last one of the Mannequin Soldiers had been brought down, the two falling to their backs in exhaustion, facing opposite directions and simply staring at the ceiling.

"Man, that was one _hell _of a battle," Beast Boy sighed as he caught his breath. "Man, you should've seen yourself, batting those Mannequin Soldiers around like ragdolls. Dude, it was epic."

"I don't know. I heard when those Sladebots were attacking, you went all Animal Planet on them. Tore quite a few to shreds if all the dismembered body parts in the halls had anything to say about it," the brunette noted off-handedly. "You're better than you think you are. Fact of the matter is… There's something I've wanted to say to you for a very long time."

"You're not coming out of the closet, are you?" the changeling asked, the brunette's only response being a weak kick to the temple. "OWWW!" he yelped exaggeratedly.

"No, I'm 100% straight," the brunette grumbled in return. He _did _enjoy the female form, his little tryst with Terra _–though _he _technically didn't get past first base with her- _testament to that. However, he also had a myriad of self-esteem NOS (Not Otherwise Specified) issues that prevented him from acting upon them _actively_. Or at least not without initial _prompting._

"Sorry man," the changeling sighed in return as he rubbed the side of his head. "So, what was it you were going to say?"

"That ever since I met you… I've actually been quite jealous of you," the brunette said causing the changeling's eyes to widen.

"Jealous? Of _me_?" Beast Boy asked in shock. "What's there to be jealous of? I'm just the team goofball that gets slapped around and his butt kicked every five seconds," he said thinking back on all the times how he would _literally _get his butt kicked within the first few minutes when they confronted a new villain.

"Ig_noring _all that…" the brunette said ignoring Beast Boy's self-loathing. "You have the power to turn into the deadliest animals on the planet, the kind of power that every half-rate villain out there dreams for, yet you don't let it change you. Don't let it _corrupt _you. If it were anyone else, they'd either abuse the power they have or get a big-ass head over it. You've never let that happen, and that's why I respect you the most out of everyone I've met."

"Huh. I never really _thought _of it that way," the changeling noted as he idly scratched his cheek.

"I have to ask though. Why is it you only take things seriously when no one is watching?" the brunette asked. "I'm not calling you out on it or anything, but you have what it takes to be one of the _greats_, so why do you joke around all the time when you fight? It might work for certain arachnid-themed comic book heroes, but in real life it isn't always practical to do so."

" . . . Did I ever tell you _why _I left the Doom Patrol?" the changeling asked.

"No, not really. What happened?" the brunette asked.

"Well…" the changeling sighed as he collected his thoughts. From there he told the brunette about how on his last mission with the Doom Patrol, how they had assaulted The Brain's latest base, a medieval-period castle in the outskirts of Europe. Apparently the disembodied brain and his pet gorilla had been able to create a super weapon capable of generating black holes at any coordinate in the world; the Quantum Generator. In the end, Beast Boy had chosen to save his team over taking down the Brain, and while Negative Man had been able to destroy the machine shortly after, Mento berated him on how he did not follow orders. Soon after he left the Doom Patrol, wanting to go solo, as well as get away from the man who would never accept him as part of the team that had taught him to use his powers for good. All in all, it wasn't a _happy ending _kinda story, but it wasn't a complete tragedy either.

"Huh. So it sounds like you're this team's go-to guy when it comes to the Brotherhood of Evil," the brunette noted as he examined the stitching on his gloves. "To tell you the truth, Slade's opinion of them was really quite low. Called it an inelegant excuse for a social club. Or something. Said people like them shouldn't be prancing around like it's one big tea party, but that when they have something they need to do, they should just do it. Guess it's why he's never been caught or usually escaped before imprisonment. Because there wasn't ceremony to every little move he made."

"But what about the time Slade had his Crouton Detonator set to go off in the middle of the city?"

"_Chronoton _Detonator, and that was just some effective misdirection for his _true _plan," the brunette corrected.

"Still though, I'm the team's go-to guy for the Brotherhood of Evil, you're the team's go-to guy for Slade. When you look past our difference in shape and power, we're a lot alike."

"Yeah, except you were brought up by a team of superheroes. _I _was brought up by the super-merc who could probably go toe-to-toe with Superman and live. Maybe even _kill _the guy since I think he had a nugget of kryptonite locked away somewhere," the brunette corrected once again.

"How _did _you and Slade get together? I mean, you don't really talk about it, and you're not his son, I know that much," the changeling noted. "You _are _not his son, right?" he asked, getting a nod from the teen. "It just seems so strange that a villain would take on an apprentice out of nowhere like that."

"Not when you put yourself in their shoes and think about it," the brunette replied. "Everyone, good or bad, wants a legacy to leave behind. To prove that they existed. Some do it through action that imparts their image on history, while others impart their images onto those they left behind; be they family or associates. For Slade, it was me and his daughter. For The Brain, it was his super weapon. The paths may be different, but the destination is the same."

"Whoa… I've never heard you speak so… _deeply _before-" Beast Boy said before his brain caught something crucial. "Slade has a _daughter_?!" he shrieked, imagining a girl version of Slade with pigtails. _Eeeevil _pigtails. Were there any other kind?

"I don't want to talk about it," the brunette huffed indignantly in return. "Fact of the matter is, we all have our secrets, and while some might be okay to be let out of the closet, for others we'd be better off hiding them," he said with a shudder, a one-eyed feminine silhouette cackling beyond a flaming backdrop

"Yeah…" the changeling noted, the two simply laying on the ground and catching their breaths before the topic on the greenette's mind finally came t the surface. "Vent… Do you blame Terra for what happened to… well… your eye?" he asked nervously, knowing that both Terra and the state of his eye were both taboo in the Tower right now. He was still trying to get over what happened to the prior as well so…

" . . . No, I don't," the brunette finally answered after a few moments. "It was my own oversight that was my downfall. I let the fact that all of you did the heavy work dull my senses and lower my guard. What happened to me…" he said letting his hand rise to the patch covering the left side of his face, "is no one's fault but my own."

"Well, look on the bright side. With that eye patch and your special gloves, you look like Roy Mustang from the the 2003's version of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie, Conqueror of Shamballa," Beast Boy said trying to crack a joke.

" . . . Yeah… I guess it does," the brunette finally admitted to himself with a laugh. "Just make sure I don't forsake my position and become an enlisted man in a remote outpost. I am _not _a fan of the cold."

"Haha! I'll keep that in mind," the changeling chuckled. The next moment the doors in the back of the room slid open a fair margin wider, the two turning to the side to see a large green monstrous shape stomping out towards them. It had four arms and four legs, a long tail, an elongated face, and a multitude of human bodies and faces protruding from its flanks and shoulders.

"BOSS BATTLE! **BOOYAH!-!-!**" Vent and Beast Boy shouted enthusiastically to one another before getting to their feet and charging at the unleashed form of the envious homunculus, the changeling turning into a tiger, his preferred form, while Vent primed his Ignition Cloth Gloves and aimed for the thing's eyes. Despite the dire straits surrounding them on all sides outside the DR, in there, they were kings. Everything else took the back seat, at least for a time.

* * *

><p>"Starfire... What exactly have you sat me down for?" Raven asked as she and Star sat in front of one of the consoles in the Ops Center, the red-head's deft fingers dancing across the keyboard as she pulled up the search engine.<p>

"Friend Raven, do you remember how some of our friends draw inspiration for their fighting techniques and battle formations from the watching of fictional characters?" Starfire questioned, causing the mage to nod. "Well, I thought if they can do it, why can we not do so as well?"

"So you want _us _to start watching anime for that reason?" the mage questioned.

"Yes. I am pulling up a list of the available Japanese animation that are online right now. If we watch them, we may be able to create new fighting techniques for ourselves," Starfire said typing commands into the keyboard, Cyborg having taught her how to actually _use _it a week or so after they first met. "Oh my..." the alien gaped looking at the list of anime that came up, totaling up in the several hundred. "This is quite a lot of Japanese animation available for viewing. How _ever _will we thin below our options."

'_Narrow down,' _the mage sighed, deciding not to voice it up. " . . . We won't get anywhere at this rate. I'll be right back," she deadpanned before floating off and through the doors, leaving Starfire to twit her thumbs for a few minutes before Raven returned, a sheet of paper in her hand. "I'm back."

"And I welcome you. What is on that piece of paper?" Starfire questioned.

" . . . "

**Mini-Flashback**

"Beast Boy," Raven said getting the changeling's attention as they flew above the city a few days ago.

"Yes?" the greenette asked returning to human form.

"You remember how Ventus uses his power to replicate attacks out of... _anime_, right?" the mage questioned, having to swallow her pride as she said _that _word. It went completely against her academic code to be asking what she was about to, but the benefits outweighed the cost.

"I do. Why do you ask?"

"Alright, I'm going to say this once, so clean the gunk out of your ears and listen up... Every fiber of my being wants to _puke _when I say this, but..." Raven said furrowing her brows in concentration as she practiced saying what she was about to say in her mind. "I need you to... _recommend _anime for me to watch... so I can recreate select moves with my powers."

"Eee... EEEEE! Dude, I thought you'd _never _come around!"

'_You thought I ever _would _come around?' _the mage thought to herself.

"I've been thinking these kind of things over for _weeks_, but I never thought my time and research would ever a_mount _to anything!" the changeling squealed like a giddy schoolgirl as he bolted off in the form of a cheetah.

'_I'm pretty sure that's an abuse of your powers,'_ Raven thought to herself. His room was right around the corner, he didn't need to go 75 mph to do so.

**Mini-Flashback End**

" . . . The anime we should watch for "training" purposes," Raven admitted after coming out of thought, handing the piece of paper over to her friend.

"My, this is quite a-"

"Narrowed down."

"-list," Starfire finished as she looked upon the list in her hands, a list of anime with both hers and Raven's names above them. "How did you ever procure such a well-tailored list?"

"Let's get to our _training _while we have the time," Raven said deflecting the question away from her. _'I can only hope Ventus isn't doing something so pointless and asinine right now,' _the mage sighed to herself as she and Starfire proceeded to draw inspiration from the Japanese animation playing out in front of her. _'Hmmm... This technique looks useful,' _she mused to herself while Starfire clapped her hands giddily.

* * *

><p>"Dude… That was the most... epic thing... I have <em>ever <em>done…" Beast Boy sighed what felt like an eternity later. True to form, like with the Mannequin Soldiers from before, "Envy" would regenerate based on the severity of the damage inflicted. While the moaning and laughing bodies on the thing's shoulders and flanks freaked Beast Boy out, after reminding himself that they weren't real, he was able to go ape on the fabricated false being _–pun not intended on both parts-_. Vent on the other hand was getting used to having his right hand more or less put back together after having it sliced nearly in two; while his right hand was now used for more widespread shots, considering it would _stall _every other time, his left hand was used for more precision-based shots. Like when he made the fluid in Envy's eyeballs vaporize. When he was about to let one rip _-pun not intended- _he'd usually give out a cry of- "Fire in ze hole!" –in some kind of accent the changeling didn't understood.

"Not for me. You do _not _want to let Lee get near any Elixr, he will whoop your _ass_," the brunette noted.

"Still man, you are _sooo _lucky, getting to learn from both Maito Gai _and _Yoko Littner," Beast Boy moaned. "Dude, can you imagine the kid they'd have? Probably the ultimate close to long-range fighter the world's ever _known_."

"That or another breeding experiment gone wrong like Perona. The chick _seriously _looks like a cross-breed between Rock Lee and Sakura Haruno," the brunette noted, the changeling mulling it over in his mind before a shudder ran down his spine.

"Ooooooogh. I guess that sounded better on paper huh," the changeling noted.

"You said it," the brunette replied. "So, you want me to teach you or what?"

"What's the what?" Beast Boy asked.

"You know, the Strong Fist, minus the green spandex," the brunette offered. "You're green enough as it is, and I wouldn't want people to think you were running around in the nude."

" . . . DUDE! THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!" Beast Boy whooped excitedly.

"Yeah… Just don't let Robin know. We guys gotta keep _something _over the team leader's head huh? If we don't he'll hog all the chicks for himself."

Oh how redundant the words that had just came out of his mouth sounded.

"Amen to that," Beast Boy said bumping fists with the brunette. At the same time across the Tower, the standing team, in pairs, also resolved to get stronger. Hopefully without the two to three-year time skip in-between.

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>The song you just heard, and I don't think putting in the lyrics was breaking any rules the way I wrote it out, was **Still Alive, by Lisa Miskovsky, which I first heard from Mirror's Edge, which was developed by EA Digital Illusions CE.**  
>Do not own Fullmetal Alchemist (2003 version andor Brotherhood). The hardlight hologram system pre-exists in Justice League, and may or may not exist in X-Men, whose Danger Room this one was based upon. I do not own Jackie Chan Adventures (Shadowkhan & their Tribes).**

**Author's Notes:  
>First and foremost, I'd like to think <strong>_**the Zogg **_**for his/her earlier critiquing of my work. Had he/she not done so, I would not have thought to make a Jackie Chan Adventures reference in this story. Especially since the Sladebots are Slade's own version of the Shadowkhan featured in Season 1 when you stop to think about it. It was also a good opportunity to touch up on Slade and Vent's relationship, showing it wasn't **_**completely **_**one-sided, though the lack of any real recognition is that made Vent leave in the first place.**

**On note of Cyborg's origin story (which is consistent in most iterations with only marginal differences based on time period (70s, 80s, 90s, etc)), is based on what I presume is his first iteration. While I wasn't able to find the issue itself on the internet (shocking since you can find just about **_**anything **_**on the internet from military weapon's codes to pictures of cute kitty cats hanging from tree branches), the general premise of it is the same, and I took hints from his past origin stories when constructing **_**this **_**iteration of Cyborg's backstory. What he said to his father at the end was mainly paraphrased from one of his older iterations from a picture I was able to find when Cyborg had just woken up to find himself in his cybernetic body.**

**Lastly, that one part about Vent's face getting slashed, as well as his left eye, is to highlight the fact that the characters in this story can and **_**will **_**get hurt. As for the thing about Vent getting his left eye slashed and BB's comparison to Roy from ****Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa****, that wasn't my intention at the time I wrote him getting "disfigured" down. It was purely coincidental (Roy and Vent's eyes corresponding), and I only remembered it when I was writing down Vent practicing his "Flame Alchemy" in the "Danger Room". I also had the "Mantisbot" attack him in this chapter since Slade probably wouldn't want his ex-apprentice to, in the man's own words- "feel left out."**

**As for the fate of his eye… I'll leave that up in the air until the time comes.**

**P.S.  
>Some interesting suggestions have been thrown out there for what Vent's voice would sound like. Mind you his voices will be the English Dub equivalents for anime characters from Japan. It only makes sense.<strong>

Infinity Freedom **suggested both Natsu from Fairy Tail and Ling from Fullmetal Alchemst Brotherhood. Out of the two of them, Natsu is the most likely candidate I have so far for his voice in general, whereas Ling's voice just doesn't have the right "fit". Whenever Vent slips into some of his more serious persona or is just dead serious, he'll sound like Train Heartnet from Black Cat, since his mindset sometimes changes like the seasons.**

**For his future self's voice, **Raidentensho ** suggested Snake from Metal Gear Solid and Death from Darksiders II. Snake would be what he would sound like in his **_**golden years**_**, while Death is a little... **_**too **_**aged (and ancient) to fit the bill. As for what he sounded like when he removed his mask (which had a voice modulator in it so he could intimidate people with the whole "Deathstroke the Terminator" bit, cause a guy of his caliber seemingly un-aging would be scary as hell), **Infinity Freedom **suggested Itachi from the English Dub of Naruto, and I have to say that's the best fit for his future self so far.**

**That doesn't mean my search for "Vincent's voice" is **_**over**_** just yet, I'm just pointing out the most likely candidates. Any others that would work, would most likely sound similar to those I've already stated thus far. The ones so far aren't the "established" voices for my OC, but a guide to what he would sound **_**like **_**if he were speaking in audio, instead of text.**


	31. From Dimension Six and Five Thirds

**ANNOUNCEMENT:  
>Keiji Inafune, creator of the much-beloved Megaman game series, has announced a comeback to the Megaman series, with a new game, a new beginning, and a new concept. For those of you that are fans of the Blue Bomber, this is the ray of light we've been waiting for since Capcom discontinued the Megaman series (Mega Man Legends 3 being one such example). The spam filter prevents me from putting a link in, but type "Might No. 9" into the google search engine, and click the one from Kickstarter. The site you're looking for has a video of Keiji Inafune himself, so it shouldn't be too hard to find.<br>**

**Last time I checked the site, there were over $706,000 dollars pledged to the project. The goal is $900,000 by October 1****st****, and since the pledge total was at $707,189 as of 9/1/2013, 9:15 pm, I think we'll be able to see Megaman back on his feet in no time. So don't rely ONLY on other people to get the Blue Bomber back. Even a single dollar can mean all the difference between the Blue Bomber making a comeback, or disappearing forever. It'd be unfair to ask this of you if I haven't done so myself, so I say right now that I've already given to the cause, and if you've ever played a Megaman game or want to see him back in the future, even the smallest donation ($1 minimum pledge) can make all the difference in the world.**

**With that said and done, I've done my piece in uplifting the Blue Bomber from fading into obscurity through the annals of time. With that done and SOPA put to a stop (again), I give you the next installment of this story.**

* * *

><p>Yesterday was… weird, to say the least. Robin loses to some third-tier villain by the name of Jonny Rancid <em>–who to be frank looked like a motorcycle thug on steroids-<em>, gets his arm busted, and some… _thing_ pops out of the Boy Wonder's forehead like some kind of _giant pimple_. While the DNA matched, and Robin thought someone had just done a poor job of cloning him _–a _very _poor job-_, the little guy said that he was _him_, a_nother _him, from another _universe_. Hailing from Dimension Four and Nine Eighths -_which should've been the fifth dimension but somehow wasn't-_ the dimension-hopping forehead-popping Mit Ekard revealed himself to be Robin's "biggest fan" and wanted to help him out with the use of his magic finger -_his means of manipulating reality_- to fix the arm that would've otherwise have to have been amputated, had Raven not been nearby with her healing magic. The little guy tried but failed a couple times, mentioned a John Doe or something like that amidst his mindless chatter, and insisted on trying again after repeated failures only for Robin to try and stop him from doing anything _else _to him.

Unfortunately, this resulted in the breaking of Marty's _–Beast Boy's name for Mit Ekard since his real name was too hard to pronounce- _magic finger, which in turn ended up "breaking" reality. After a myriad of all craziness in a Jump that looked like it belonged on Cy's grandmother's fridge, the team was eventually able to make it back to the Tower where Timmy's dimensional runoff had been… running off. However _somehow_, Jonny Rancid had _also _gotten to the Tower, and after _using _said runoff, had turned Jump into a dark counterpart of itself that Raven actually preferred to the "default" setting.

While everyone else tried and failed, Robin and Marty had been able to stop him and return things to normal. Before he returned to Dimension Four and Nine Eighths, Robin had given Marty another chance to fix his arm; Good news it worked, bad news it sent him to a "Blank Dimension", a world that had yet to actually _be_. After pulling him out, Mit left… after crawling back into Robin's noggin' since that was his "entry point", and promptly disappeared. Needless to say, the Boy Wonder _–and half of Jump-_ would need some therapy after that one. Especially those who had grandmothers with fridges that they put pictures on in their youths.

* * *

><p>"Weird day yesterday, huh, Robin?" Vent asked the next morning sitting at the breakfast table with the others. Due to medical reasons <em>–estranged, but still medical reasons nonetheless-<em>, Beast Boy and Ventus would sit on the far ends of the table facing the opposite direction from one another, due to the brunette's pseudo-allergenic reaction to tofu and tofu-based products. While technically it was only to the coagulated soy milk _in _tofu that caused his exaggerated reaction, they still couldn't risk him being knocked off kilter after what happened last time.

Last thing they needed was an ex-Slade-trained psychopath loose in the Tower. Ventus being there as a _default _was considered bad enough at times. Trust me, you do _not _want to know how cranky the red-eyed brunette got when he arrived at the fridge in the morning and there was no more 2%.

Truth be told, the only real topic discussed at the breakfast table for the past few days had either been how far along the Tower's repairs were going, or how the brunette's recovery was. The external damage on the Tower had been fixed and the Sladebots hauled away, though several portions of their home had to be cordoned off until more work could be done. For the brunette himself, he had regained _feeling _in the left half of his face yesterday morning after a few day's recovery, so that was good. His eye was nowhere near close to being fixed completely, but Raven hadn't healed something as delicate as an _eye _before, so such delays were to be expected. She would at times apologize and suggest he go to a specialist, but in return he'd always insist that no one would or _could _do as good a job taking care of him as _she _would. Considering his fate as a superhero was on the line, that was a lot of faith he had put in her.

"Yeah. _Stiiill _got the migraine," Robin stated as he rubbed his temples. Mit popping out of his forehead was… mortifying, to say the least.

"Hey, at least everything's back to normal y'all," Cy said digging into his waffles. "And would you look at that. They stopped SOPA from getting passed. _Again_," the cyborg noted druly as he held the newspaper in one hand. "This is like, what, the seventh time they've tried this? You'd think they'd be smart enough to give up by now," he noted dryly. Had SOPA gotten passed, it would only be a matter of time until there were no personal rights left, and you could be shot in the head for singing as easily as you could for belching in public.

"Sdrawkcab _llits _si htuom ym! _Em_ tuoba tahw? Edud!" Beast Boy cried out… backwards.

"Beast Boy, just shut up and wait for your mouth to get back to normal on its own. Talking won't help," Raven stated, _still _dusting footprints off the Book of Azar that Mit/Marty used as a flying surfboard. The grimoire had been the only tome _originally _from her home dimension, and it was practically her bible. Pun not intended of course.

"I just hope something like that _neeever _happens agai-" Vent started before. "Hurk! Argh! Aiiiigh!" he cried suddenly rolling backwards out of his chair across the floor before getting up, clutching his head and the others assuming the worst before he upchucked into the sink, running the water as his body shook from the dry heaves.

"Ventus, are you alright?" Starfire asked floating over to him and rubbing his back as he retched. "Will a tiny doppelganger version of you emerge from _your _forehead as well?" she asked, causing the others to cringe at what the _last _one did. The only one with solace was that when Raven found herself without a mouth, Vent had actually peeled his off and slapped it onto her face so she could get a word in when Rob tried to have her heal Larry's finger. She'd heard of men taking their coats off and putting them in puddles for women, but that was certainly a new twist on chivalry.

"No… Just felt really ill all of a sudden," Vent groaned out as he filled a glass with water and raised it to his lips, gargling before yakking the acidic taste out of his mouth and down the drain.

"Well alright then. Let's just be glad we don't have a_nother _dimension-jumper on our hands," Cy said as he was about to dig into his remaining waffle, only for a loud _**-RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP- **_sound to _rip _through the air.

"Stnap reiht pir enoemos did?" Beast Boy asked backwards, the group suddenly feeling a draft wafting in. Turning to the side, they saw that a piece of their living room, or rather the fabric of their living room's _reality_, had been torn asunder, like that of a paper backdrop. The next moment an unknown figure entered as an otherworldly glow flowed from out of the tear, a set of footsteps touching down on the carpet before the tear in reality repaired itself, the last of the otherworldly light clearing and revealing their newcomer.

"Hey there people, the life of the party has ar_rived_!" the new figure greeted as the final small tear in their dimension's reality, if that was what it really was, repaired itself. The figure looked like he was in his early twenties with shoulder-length messy dark brown hair, unkempt sideburns, and a few scraggly hairs present on his chin, the early makings of a moustache present on his upper lip. He had a swimmer's build like Aqualad's and stood around 5 feet 10 inches, if not a little taller, had lightly tanned skin, and green/brown eyes depending on the light. "Do I have something on my face?"

_***Cue "Teen Titans! Go! (Japanese Version)"**__**by Puffy AmiYumi**_*****

_**Domo kotsu uru mamoru yo, Teen Titans  
>Suki kidai naku randemo taberu yo, Teen Titans<br>Shink kami dari dari oyai  
>Okuga san sui ka shakai<br>Omae mo wa nari mounai, Teen Titans, GO!**_

_**Okida koidei yopei oku dayou, Teen Titans  
>Mono yami haku daiketsu shichau yo, Teen Titans<br>Kasu rana suke ju kontoro  
>Mama na daichu kontoro<br>Megau dou wa hate shinai, Teen Titans, GO!**_

_**Sami shii doke itsu demo  
>Boku rande iru yo<br>Ai doke iwa haku do yo  
>Boku randa istu mo…<br>Itsu made mo…**_

_**T-E-E-N T-I-T-A-N-S Teen Titans Let's Go!  
>T-E-E-N T-I-T-A-N-S Teen Titans Let's Go!<br>**__**T-E-E-N T-I-T-A-N-S Teen Titans Let's Go!  
>T-E-E-N T-I-T-A-N-S Teen Titans Let's Go!<strong>_

_**Domo kotsu uru mamoru yo, Teen Titans  
>Suki kidai naku randemo taberu yo, Teen Titans<br>Shin kami dari kari oyai  
>Okuga san su ika shakai<br>Omae mo wa nari mounai, Teen Titans, Go!  
><strong>__**Teen Titans, GO!**_

_**1, 2, 3, 4, Go! Teen Titans!**_

"Well…" Raven said poignantly as the last of the music stopped. "Didn't see that coming."

"Who are you?" Robin asked warily. After the last dimension-hopper, which he was assuming this guy was until new evidence presented itself, he was a bit wary of them.

"Me?" he asked. "Well I'm not an otherworldly version of _him _if _that's _what you're asking," he answered pointing at Ventus, the others breathing a sigh of relief. "Anyway, the name's Eon Ozan. I'm from Dimension Six and Five Thirds," he said with a mock bow of introduction. "The song and music earlier was the title sequence."

"Hey! Why were you singing my song just then?!" Vent suddenly cried out, the other brunette looking at the wind-wielding brunette before answering.

"V-Man, _Teen Titans Go!_ originates from _my _Dimension. I just wrote it into your head for shits and giggles," Eon chuckled, Vent grumbling at the _V-Man _nickname.

"Really? Prove it," Vent challenged with crossed arms.

"Very well then. You asked for it," Eon said cracking his neck, shoulders, spine, and knuckles in impossible ways causing everyone to cringe at each pop before taking a deep breath, assuming a dynamic pose. "Raven in a TINY MINISKIRT!" he said pointing to the brunette's forehead as a pink dark blue miniskirt-filled backdrop appeared behind him. Said brunette gave him a quizzical look for a few seconds, accompanied by a raised eyebrow as he tried to figure out where that backdrop had come from. A moment later he turned red as a steamed lobster, steam flying out of both ears accompanied by the sound of a boiling tea kettle before he flew into the ceiling via twin nose-rockets of blood at 100 mph, several gallons splayed across the floor when the human body only possessed a few quarts, ceiling tiles falling to the floor post-impact. It took a few seconds for the remaining Titans to shake off the shock of what they saw, and surprisingly it was _Raven _who took the initiative as she walked up to Eon, rather than be indifferent about the whole thing as per usual.

"One, _don't _just conjure up images of me in a tiny _miniskirt_ in my friend's head to prove a point," Raven said with a tick mark on her forehead as she pointed to the downed aerokinetic, not caring if this guy _was _from the 6th Dimension. "Second, _don't _put blood all over the carpet," she said motioning to the twin crimson stains across the carpet.

"Alright alright, I'll fix it," he said placing his thumb and middle finger together, a golden glow not dissimilar to the one on Marty's own finger appearing before he snapped his fingers. The next moment the space around Ventus gained the grainy texture of a TV being rewound, the brunette's legs raising into the air before his body reversed its course, the twin rockets of blood returning to his nostrils and the steam from before gushed from his ears before returning, the grainy texture leaving a few moments later to him having his eyebrow raised quizzically. "You can thank me for the mental image later," Eon chuckled right before Vent's face turned red. Instead of what happened previously, all he did was fall flat on his back, his eyes wide, a thin trail of blood dripping from his left nostril, and his mouth pulled into a grin not dissimilar to one of Jiraiya's own, showing that while the timeline around the brunette had been reversed, the mental image placed in his head was still present.

"So you _too _are from Marty's dimension as well?" Star asked.

"Close. Your reality-bending compatriot is from Dimension Four and Nine_ Eighths_. _I _am from Dimension _Six _and Five_ Thirds_. Two and a half-or-so Dimensions super ceding his," Eon stated snapping his fingers, two palm trees with piles of sand around the bases and a hammock appearing in a flash of light before he hopped into the latter and started rocking to the sides. "So… What's the game plan for today?" he asked as a pink-colored drink with ice and a tiny parasol appeared in his hand, from which he began drinking with a green and white-striped bendy straw.

"We were… in the middle of having breakfast," Robin said trying not to groan at the guy making himself right at home in their living room, dimension-hopper or not.

"Breakfast, the most important meal of the day," he said facing a seemingly-random direction with a plate appearing in his hands. On it was a set of pancakes with a dab of butter on the top, a few strips of wavy bacon on the side, and a glass of OJ floating nearby as a wide smile pulled at his face.

"Ot gniklat uoy rea ohw?" Beast Boy asked.

"The readers of course," Eon chuckled.

"Readers… right…" Robin said trying to retain his composure. "Um… listen, Eon."

"Yes?" the man asked, a straw hat and sunglasses having come out of nowhere as he began working on his tan, rays of sunlight shining down on him even though they were in doors.

"We're kinda in the middle of something, so if you could give us some space…" he trailed off.

"Oh! Right! Where _are _my manners today?" he asked slapping himself on the forehead. "I'll just get out of your hair then," he said as he tugged at the rope holding the top of his hammock. The next moment everything was coiled up like a window shade, the sound of shutters clattering as everything disappeared between the couch cushions.

"God, I have the feeling today's going to be a _looong _day," Robin grumbled as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Sdileye sih fo sedisni eht otno denrub triksinim ynit a ni nevaR ees nac I erus ytterp m'I dna, ereh revo d'OK llits s'tneV. Em gnillet er'ouy," Beast Boy said examining the undersides of the brunette's eyelids, only for Raven to kick him away.

"Cyborg, can you _please _whip up some kind of translator for him. I'm getting tired of having to listen to him prattle on in gibberish," Raven said crossing her arms.

"I can set something up that replays whatever it is he says _backwards _if that's good enough for you," Cy said shrugging his shoulders. "We'll still have to listen to his backwards talk, but at least we'll be able to understand what it is he's saying a few seconds later."

"Do it. Beast Boy may have something critical to tell us, and if we can't interpret what it is, it could very well be the end of us," Robin said hitting the palm of his hand with his fist, Starfire in the background waving cool air onto Vent's face with a towel like a coach would with their KO'd boxer, the ringing of a bell suddenly going off in the background. At least the brunette was halfway there.

"I _thought _there was something I came here to do. Almost forgot," Eon said as the upper half of his body suddenly burst from Raven's cup of tea. Before anyone could yelp in fear, the extradimensional brunette peeled Beast Boy's mouth from his face like a band-aid before rotating it in his hand, slapping it back onto the changeling's face. "Well. Be seein' ya," he said before raising one arm, the other holding his nose. "AWOOGA!" he bellowed like a submarine's siren as he dropped back down into the tea, the residential mage simply pushing it away, wanting nothing more to do with it after... whatever the hell that just was.

"Cyborg... Nix that last order."

"Yeah, I got it," Cyborg responded to Robin in turn as Eon dove back into Raven's cup of tea, the mage simply pouring the contents into the sink as she rubbed her temples.

"Hey, at least I've got my mouth on straight," the changeling quipped in.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, the Titans decided to go out for pizza at their favorite spot, the team sitting at their favorite table; the end of the pizza slice-shaped roof of the Pizza Corner. Like always, most everyone was bickering like children over what to get. Robin wanted to get the most pizza for the least amount of money, Cyborg wanted obscene amounts of meat, Starfire wanted every toping on the menu <em>not <em>meant to go on pizza, Beast Boy wanted anything _but _meat, Raven wanted the others to make up their minds and pick _anything_, while Ventus, despite being one of the most _vocal _of the group when it didn't come to meat or tofu, couldn't get a word in edgewise. As this was going on, a familiar brunette presence was watching the Titans from afar behind the folds of the day's paper through a slat between articles he had cut for just that purpose. Snapping his fingers with a golden glow, the man disappeared as though he were never even there.

"Juuust _pick _something already," Raven groaned from behind the menu, a piece of cheesy garlic bread between her teeth. She'd learned long ago that while the others bickered and tuned out the rest of the living world, it was more practical to just have Vent go off behind the others backs and nab something from the appetizer section of the menu. They'd taken to sharing cheesy garlic bread behind their menus so many times, it had all become routine. It was a wonder the others never noticed, especially Beast Boy whose nose was more sensitive than a normal human's, and how cheesy garlic bread tended to stand out amidst the absence of pizza.

"Do I _have _to say this? No. Meat," Beast Boy argued against Cyborg's motion.

"And _I _ain't eating _veggie_," Cyborg snapped back.

"This never ends, does it?" Vent questioned from behind the menu after swallowing a bite of his appetizer.

"I think it is _wonderful _our friends can be so jovial with one another," Starfire said with a beaming megawatt smile. "It is a most excellent way to repel the rekmas."

"That's _one _way of putting it," Raven commented. "Vent, is something wrong?"

"Oh... just... thinking," Vent sighed as he looked down at the last piece of cheesy garlic bread. "That last part would've been Terra's after she tried getting a word in edgewise for the triple cheese with stuffed crust."

"That's a _lot _of cheese," the mage commented.

"Yeah, but she was fairly regular... Is it weird that I noticed that?"

"A little."

"Huh."

"Well dudes, I think we're in the clear," Beast Boy said looking down at his watch.

"_Please don't say what I think you're about to say," _Vent whispered in a groan.

"It's been hours since that Eon guy showed up and fixed my mouth, so I don't think we'll worry about him pulling a _Marty _on us anytime soon."

"Did it ever occur to you that every time you say something like that, the universe decides to royally screw us over without fail?" Raven questioned as she looked up from the menu.

"That can't happen _all _the time, can it?" Beast Boy asked.

"Actually, yeah it can," Eon said throwing his arms around Beast Boy and Cyborg's shoulder. "I'm thinking... BATTLE ROYALE!" he said raising his fingers to snap, the others lunging at him to make him-

* * *

><p>"Stop!" Robin called out mid-lunge, only to find himself in the middle of a nondescript street away from the Pizza Corner. "Crap, he separated us!" the teen cursed as he found he was the only one of the Titans there, meaning the others must've been scattered. Batman and Superman both had to contend with dimension manipulators in the past, and while his mentor's was more of a fanboy than anything else, the one Superman had to contend with was <em>very <em>vindictive. "Let's hope things don't get as crazy as what happened when _Marty _rolled into town," the teen said before golden flashes went off across the skyline, the airspace above Jump City soon filled with blimps carrying jumbo screens on their sides, while a number of screens just as large appeared on the sides of most of the buildings.

"Goooood morning, Jump Citae!" Eon greeted as his likeness appeared on every television and computer screen in the city. "Sorry for this, but your current programs have all been re-scheduled! The names Eon Ozan from Dimension Six and Five Thirds, and today we're going to be watching a little thing I like to call..."

"Clash... of... the Titans!" a mixed studio audience called out from the background.

"And like the name implies, you'll get to partake in a line of fights, the likes of which have never been seen before!" Eon shouted as he slammed his palm against a desk, the brunette suddenly dressed like a color commentator at a sports event.

"Calling all Titans. Calling all-" Robin said flipping his T-Comm. open, only to find that Eon had invaded it as well.

"While I was '_tempted_' to have all the Titans face off against a Final Boss-type enemy, I thought, "Where's the fun in that?" I decided that for your viewing pleasure, _as well as mine_," he mumbled into his sleeve. "That we should split apart the Dream Team and leave them to their own devices."

"You've gotta be kidding me," Robin grumbled as he tried to circumvent the signal being broadcast through his T-Comm., only to find that even when he ripped out the battery and tried to re-boot it, all he got was that dimensional nutcase back in his grill.

"NOOOOOOW for your viewing entertainment, I bring you this once-in-a-lifetime fight! Robin of the Teen Titans versus PX-5 of the Pacifista from Eiichiro Oda's... OOONE PIIIECE!" Eon introduced with a snap of his fingers, a flash of light appearing behind Robin causing the teen to whirl around, craning his neck upwards as a tall shadow fell over him.

The giant that had suddenly appeared towered far above him with a standing height of 22 feet and 6 inches. His eyes were covered by a pair of clear-mirrored lenses, his chin was long and protruding, his neck quite thick, though his arms and legs were thin in comparison to the massive bulk of his body. The white bucket hat atop his head coverd in brown spots with a pair of rounded ears on them. The black jacket he wore contained a large white design reminiscent to a target crosshair or a coda sign with a few paw prints lining the bottom hem of his coat. He had brown gloves on his hands, white pants, and brown shoes that would've been clowl-like had he not been so massive. On the right side of its neck was a tattoo reading **PX-5**, identifying it as a Pacifista instead of Bartholomew Kuma to those who didn't know it was an extremely convincing cyborg replica.

"Folks, I kid you not! What you are currently seeing is 100% unedited footage, and is in fact quite real!" Eon announced loudly as shock spread across the city to those who were watching. "Now, let the first fight of the Clash of the Titans… Begin!" he shouted as he rung the brass bell.

"Oh you have got to be _kidding _me!" Robin cried as the mechanical being shifted its gaze towards him, the cyborg's electronic scope showing its pupils glowing red. Within the carapace of its mechanical skull the word **TARGET**was superimposed across the spiky-haired teen's chest. In response to the signal, the Pacifista raised a hand, a small hole in its palm glowing brightly before a laser shot out and hit the ground Robin would've been standing on had he not dodged. Not a moment after the laser hit the ground, a massive spherical explosion rocketed him off his feet, throwing him through the air before he came to a stop, only to break into a sprint as the Pacifista began firing lasers from _both _palms. "This thing's gotta have a weak spot. Gotta think of a weak spot. Gotta think of a weak spot... Crap! I don't know any weak spots!"

**Mini-Flashback**

"Why won't you watch with us, dude?" Beast Boy queried, an animated show featuring non-stereotypical pirates fighting a massive bear-like individual playing on the screen in the Titans Tower living room.

"Because wasting your time on something like this is pointless and _stupid_," Robin retorted, his statement sounding just like something Raven would say.

**Mini-Flashback End**

"Ohhh... _Why _didn't I just watch that One Piece marathon with the others when I had the chance?" the spiky-haired teen groaned to himself as the Pacifista opened its mouth, a ball of golden light being generated in its maw before a beam was shot right at Robin. "EYIPE!"

* * *

><p>"Hello? Friends?" Starfire asked worriedly as she found herself in the warehouse district. "Where is it that we have all gone? Hello?"<p>

"AND NOW, the second match in Clash of the Titans begins!" Eon's voice bellowed, prompting Starfire to whirl around and face the dimension-hopper who looked like none of her friends on the jumbo-screen that had no place being on the side of an abandoned warehouse. "Standing at eight feet tall and fourteen-hundred pounds with footfalls that can sink entire continents when he's pissed enough! He's mean! He's green! He's the Incrediblllle... HUUUULK!"

"Incredible who?" Starfire asked with a tilt of her head before a massive figure dropped down behind her, the ground shaking and tossing her into the air and making her land on her back. Rolling to her feet, her eyes met those of a massive green giant who towered imposingly over her, his muscles rippling like tectonic plates and arms thicker than Cyborg's chassis, the only clothing he wore being a tattered pair of purple pants.

"**HULK SMASH!"** he bellowed, the boom of his voice whipping Starfire's hair behind her and almost throwing the Tamaranian off her feet.

"Please, Mr. Hulk of Incredibleness, I do not wish to fight-" was as far as Starfire got before the Hulk punted her with the force of a freight train... to the opposite side of Jump Bay. " . . . you . . . " she groaned after crashing into a car dealership. Shaking the spots out of her vision, she blearily got to her feet as the Hulk bounded across the bay, off the roof of Titans Tower, and landed on the opposite side of the street from her.

"**RRRAAAGH!"** the Hulk bellowed as he hoisted a car above his head. The next moment he tore it in half before bringing his fists back together, the two halves of the car now weaponized into a pair of metal boxing gloves.

"Oh nibblets of sweetness," Starfire squeaked in broken English as the Hulk bore down on her.

* * *

><p>"Man, is this guy on <em>every <em>frequency?" Cyborg groaned as he tapped on his arm communicator, changing the setting to any frequency he could think of, only for the dimension-hopping obstruction to remain glued to his forearm, yammering away about who Robin and Starfire were fighting. "This isn't getting me anywhere," he said shutting off the feed, instead attempting to trace the Titans' communicator's so they could regroup.

"Robin and Starfire are now presently occupied, so let's see what we have in mind for the resident cyborg," Eon said as a jumbo screen suddenly appeared on the parking garage nearby. "And Cyborg will be fighting..." Eon said digging through slips of paper in a top hat he pulled out of nowhere. "Experiment 626, the near-indestructible abomination of science with a brain like a super computer, capable of manipulating objects 1000 times his own mass! Everyone give the robot a big hand!" he said as the word **APPLAUD** appeared above his head as he clapped his hands.

"It's _cyborg_!" the cybernetic teen shouted. The next moment a flash of golden light burst behind him, and Cyborg whirled around to face whatever scientific abomination Eon had thrown at him with arm cannon primed. At first he didn't see anything eye level, but when he heard a grunt from the ground, his eyes panned downward, a bead of sweat appearing on the back of his head at the sight that greeted him.

The creature he was apparently fighting was only three and a half feet tall, approximately one meter from what his optics were telling him. At first glance this "Experiment 626" was mistaken for a dog, but resembled a mixture of several miniature animals including a rabbit, chimpanzee, French bulldog, Cornish rex, Tasmanian devil, and koala with blue fur transitioning into three distinct shades. However, the aspect of this little... dog-thing, that made it an "abomination of science" was the fact that it had antennae on its head, four arms, and a trio of quills jutting out of its back. The thing appeared to be wearing a bright red battlesuit withpads on the knees and elbows, yellow burgundy-lined triangle-shaped accents on the elbows and chest while a belt was synched around the thing's waist.

"You've gotta be kidding me," Cyborg said flatly.

"Did I also mention Experiment 626 has acidic saliva?"

"Say what now?" Cyborg asked, only for the thing in front of him to snort a wad of green mucous phlegm into its mouth before hocking it at Cyborg, the metallic teen yelping as he rolled to the side, the phlegm melting the bumper right off the car it hit... then the car itself... and then the street beneath it, leaving a gaping hole. "Ohhh... that's not good," he said staring at where the car hit was once parked.

"Did I mention Experiment 626 is proficient with many forms of weaponry including chainsaws?"

"You never mentioned _anything_ like that!" Cyborg cried out, the sounds of four chainsaw engines roaring drawing his attention to the blue-furred creature in front of him, the thing now dual-wielding two chainsaws and cackling wildly before it lunged at him, prompting the teen to run as the first chainsaw carved right through the lamp post that had taken the hit in his stead.

* * *

><p>"Normally I'd be inclined to call tech support..." Beast Boy hummed before closing his T-Comm. "But I don't think it'd do any good in this case," he said shoving the yellow black-accented communicator into his pocket. Looking up at the jumbo screens scattered across the city, he saw his comrades fighting fictional characters from who <em>knows <em>where. "Alright you dimension-hopping nutcase..." the changeling said cracking his neck. "Bring. It. On," he said cracking his knuckles, the additional muscle he'd developed from his time training with Ventus in the DR for hours on end flexing.

"With Robin, Starfire, and Cyborg presently occupied, let's move onto the next match in this Clash of the Titans!" Eon announced. "In lieu of a drawn-out intro, I'll just ask this. How well will the Yamcha of the Teen Titans fare against a cultivated life-form?"

"Hey, I take offense to that!" the changeling cried as he shook a fist at the screen, a burst of light in front of him drawing his attention as his opponent materialized.

"SKREEEE!" the thing he was being made to fight screeched as it strode towards him. It was half the changeling's height with nearly double the muscle mass and green skin lighter than his own. It had pointed ears, red eyes, a bulbous head creased like a brain, and had three claws on each hand and foot. Rather than "clothing" per-se, the cultivated lifeform had organic plate-like armor dominating its torso and lower body, leaving its arms and legs bare.

"Uh… Nice Saibaman, Saibaman, Saibaman," he said pleadingly, his muscles deflating alongside his bravado. "You don't want to blow yourself up just to kill me do you?" he asked weakly, figuring just _why _Eon had mentioned Yamcha.

"Skreeeee!" the thing cried out as its head split open before a milky liquid shot out.

"Eyah!" the changeling cried as he backpedaled, the upcoming rebuttle dying on his lips as he witnessed the milky fluid from the Saibaman's head eat through the street and into the sewer below. "AHHHHHHH!" Beast Boy then cried as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, the terror that the lone Saibaman carried with it making him forget he could just change into a cheetah or something faster than himself. Of course it wasn't like anyone _*cough cough* _Eon Ozan _*cough cough* _was going to tell _him _that.

* * *

><p>"Faaan flippin' tastic," the Titans' resident mage groaned as she reappeared away from the Pizza Corner, standing in the middle of the street in the city's shopping district, Titans Tower within her line of sight, a massive jumbo screen now hanging slightly askew off the side. If she hadn't already seen a dimension-warper prior, she would've wondered how something like that was physically possible. "Just sic whatever you're going to have attack at me already. I've got better things to do than fight for your entertainment," she said dryly into her T-Comm.<p>

"Fine, be that way," Eon grumbled as he snapped his fingers, a burst of golden light flaring in front of Raven before a figure a head taller than her stepped out. Said figure appeared to be a teenager with an athletic build, spiky dark brown hair, and sharp gold-colored cat-like eyes. His attire consisted of a long, worn out black trench coat over a black dress shirt, black dress pants, and dress shoes, the figure's choice in attire almost as dark as the mage's own. What stood out however was the roman numerals **XIII** tattooed under the figure's left collarbone. "I present for your viewing entertainment, Raven of the Teen Titans versus Train Heartnet of Chronos, armed with his trusty orichalucm weapon, Hades," Eon announced, the cat-eyed teen drawing a large black and silver revolver from the folds of his coat. Said revolver bore an intricate gold design on the end resembling a growling dog, a blunt protrusion forming the bottom implying it was used for close combat, the same roman numerals **XIII **carved into the side.

"Orichalcum?" Raven questioned, her opponent raising his revolver at her. "Crap. Azarath Metrion Zin-" she intoned, a resounding _**-crack- **_ringing through the air as the projectile from Hades headed right for her.

"Oh, but don't worry about Raven. Train's only packing 'rubber' bullets today," Eon announced right as the now-disclosed-as-rubber bullet impacted the blue-garbed mage's forehead, sending her reeling out of the air and rolling across the ground. "Doesn't mean it won't hurt though."

'_I _swear_, if I ever get my hands on him, I'm going to-_ Raven's thoughts however were cut off as another rubber bullet impacted her forehead, causing her to stumble back once more. _'Great. That's going to leave a bruise...' _she groaned, wishing that Vent were there so he could return the favor from when she peeled those red Xs off of his face. _'Wait... Where did that come-'_

Her thoughts were once again interrupted as a rubber bullet sailed through the air and impacted her forehead, throwing the mage back, again, and prompting her to run for cover.

* * *

><p>"This is just like the King of Games all over again... only the host is marginally less of a douche," the brunette noted as he found himself away from the Pizza Corner, recognizing the stretch of street he was in as one owned by smaller businesses.<p>

"Facing the Titans' wind-wielding teen hero is the thunder from down under, the Tasmanian Devil!"

"Tasmanian what-now?" the brunette asked before a flash of golden light flared behind him. Hunched over and looking around was a large anthromorphic creature with brown fur covering most of its body, its face and stomach covered a very light shade of brown, sharp-looking eyes with thick eyebrows above a large snout, which in turn was above a large mouth filled with sharp-looking fangs. Atop its head were two tufts of fur that resembled horns.

"Q… R… S… T, Tas, Tasmanian. Here it is," the dimension-hopping brunette on the screen said with a pair of semicircular reading glasses on his face, a large red book with the word **ENCYCLOPEDIA **in his hands. "A strong, murderous beast, jaws as powerful as a steel trap – has ravenous appetite – eats tigers, lions, elephants, buffaloes, donkeys, giraffes, octopuses, rhinoceroses, mooses, ducks, aaand…"," he said tapping his chin with his finger. "Humans."

"HUMANS?-!" Vent cried in outrage.

"Humans?" Taz asked as he scratched the top of his head. In response, the brunette on-screen grabbed a comically-large pencil before scribbling something on the bottom of the page in exaggerated strokes. A moment later he pressed the page against the inside of the screen, revealing that he had scribbled the word **Humans **onto the bottom of the page.

"Oh sweet nibblets," Vent murmured under his breath as the Tasmanian Devil began to look at him ravenously, the brunette being replaced with a large steak in the murderous carnivore's eyes.

"Huuumannn..." the Tasmanian Devil drooled as he pulled a chef hat, skewer, and bottle of Worcestershire sauce out of nowhere.

"Ring, ring, boys," Eon chuckled as he rung the brass bell. "Ring, ring."

"AHHHHHHH!" Vent cried, screaming out like Beast Boy, only this time he had a valid _reason _for screaming like a little girl as he ran for his life, Taz spiraling in a mad tornado of fur and limbs as he chased after the brunette. Using parkour to vault over an automobile, park bench, and zigzagging between a few parking meters, all without his feet touching the ground like Kingdom Hearts 3D's "Flowmotion" system, Taz made short work of all the obstructions in his path, reducing them to their bare basics as he barreled toward Ventus, who at that moment rebounded off a light post and ran around the corner. The moment Taz appeared in the open, a torrent of water suddenly barreled into his open maw, Vent's hand down from a wind-enhanced chop that took out part of a fire hydrant, filling the crazed killing machine with water causing him to bloat to comical proportions. "Boy, Taz, putting on the water weight there, ain't ya?" he asked poking the carnivore who was now larger than a sports utility vehicle, his limbs flailing as he tried to keep his mouth shut. For whatever reason. After a few moments he couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer and Taz spewed gallons of water all over the street. Filling his lungs with air, a sneaker-clad foot suddenly found home in his stomach, sending him flying through the air before punching through a store window. "YEAYAH! Take THAT you murderous carnivore!" the brunette whooped as the last of the glass shards fell. The next moment his opponent twirled out through the door after shredding it, the carnivore now dressed in a white martial arts gi and a headband, a pair of nuchaku in his hands. Looking up, the brunette slapped his face when he realized he'd thrown his opponent into a martial arts store. "Why me?" he groaned before Taz spun at him in his signature cyclone of fur and flailing limbs, a nunchaku cracking him across the chest and throwing him through a storefront. When Taz advanced towards the brunette with mouth salivating, said brunette suddenly burst out of the store without his shirt on, his hair now a mess and held up by a green headband, a pair of large machine guns in his hand with bullet magazines strewn across his chest and a combat knife clenched between his teeth.

"What?" the beast asked with a large **?** above his head. While Ventus had thrown Taz through a martial arts store, Taz had thrown him into a military _surplus _store.

"Don't say I never did anything for ya, V-man," Eon chuckled from his place in the TV screen as the brunette went totally _Rambo _on Taz, the Devil screaming wildly. That of course didn't last long because out of _nowhere_, a PETA rally rushed to Taz's defense and started throwing overripe fruit at the brunette, Taz splashing him with Worcestershire sauce in the process. A moment later a throng of squealing Ventus fangirls rushed in, cleaning the Ramboified brunette off _–some being a little more, ahem, _thorough, _than necessary-_ before beating the PETA rally back with picket signs adorned with hearts, caricatures of Ventus' face, and drabbles of fangirl dialogue no-one else would understand. This merely left Taz growling and slobbering as once again he and the brunette were all alone.

"Alright tough guy, you want a fight," Vent said as he began spinning wildly, similarly to the way Taz would, only _his _cyclone gained an orange glow. "Then I'll give you one!" he growled as he came to a stop, raising up his right leg which was now radiating intense heat from the air friction. "Diamble..." he said crouching on his un-heated leg as the crazed Taz whirled towards him. "JAMBE!" the brunette roared as he launched himself at Taz and swung his leg into the whirling mass of fur, the scene reminiscent to when Sanji used the same technique on Jyabura as he sent the Devil sailing through a nearby brick wall. The Tasmanian Devil groaned as he tried to get back up, the brunette frantically putting the fire on his right leg out with a cry of- "Hot, hot, hot!" -before Taz suddenly fainted, his body breaking apart into golden particles.

'_Thank God _that's _over with,' _Vent sighed as he finally pat out the last of the fires from his legs, though the pants leg that had been on fire was not nothing but ash at his feet. "Now to go help my friends," the brunette said looking around before seeing someone on a bench taking off their shoes. "I'm sorry, I'll bring it back later, thank you!" the brunette said snagging a pair of roller blades the pedestrian about to put them on, skating out of earshot as the person raved at him for stealing their skates.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the city, Cyborg had managed to blast the two chainsaws out of 626's hands, only for the blue-furred creature to pick up a nearby minivan and chuck it at him. The cyborg caught it with ease and set it down, only for the thing to start skittering across the ground towards him like something out of a horror movie. Sending sonic blasts at the thing, 626 dodging around each one, he reared his arm back before firing a charged blast of sonic energy at the thing, only for him to swat it to the side and into a nearby china shop. The next moment however, Cyborg was able to punt the little thing down the street like a furry blue football.<p>

"Booyah!" Cyborg whooped as 626 bounced a few times before coming to a stop face-down. That sentiment however was cut short when 626 rolled back to his feet, shaking his fur like a dog would with water.

"Looks like Cy here already forgot 626 is near-indestructible," Eon announced in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I heard you the first time!" Cy cried in outrage, shaking a fist at the jumbo screen on the nearby building before shooting it with a charged shot so he wouldn't have to listen to the guy. Doing the thorough job he did however, made him unaware of 626's approach until the little guy bit down into his foot. "OW! Get him off me! Get him off me!" he cried as he kicked out with his leg trying to send the thing flying, only for its teeth to remain clamped to his reinforced titanium alloy foot. The next moment the thing suddenly scampered up his back. "Oh you better not do what I think you're about to-" he cried before he felt the little thing open the hatch on his back and used the manual override. "Aw man, not again!" he cried as he felt his body go limp, one of his limbs detaching and 626 cackling as he tipped the cyborg over before grabbing said limb and running off, cackling madly all the way.

* * *

><p>"OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOD!" Beast Boy screamed as he continued to run from the crazed Saibaman. Said Saibaman was fully intent on blowing up the changeling and he did <em>not <em>want to wind up like Yamcha. Nor did he want to _be _the Yamcha of the group. That was kinda counterproductive to getting a large following of fangirls like he always dreamed of.

"Hey cabbage head!" a familiar voice shouted, the rumbling of a gasoline-powered motor causing the changeling and Saibaman both to look over their shoulder. "BANZAAAAAAAAAAAI!" the figure suddenly called out from the seat of a drive mower that crashed through a nearby window, the sun's light at the figure's back soon giving way to reveal Ventus driving a bright red riding mower, landing right on top of the Saibaman a moment later with a loud _***CRASH***_. The thing was no longer drivable, but it was already where it needed to be. "And I ain't talking the small tree either!" he said pulling back a lever, the sound of blades chopping through plant matter ringing through the air mixing with the screams of a cultivated life form. After a few moments the screeching stopped, prompting Ventus to shut off the blades.

"DUDE!" Beast Boy cried out with tears streaming down his face like a waterfall. "What took you so long? I thought I was going to die back there!" he said as he hugged the brunette's midsection, the brunette trying to push the changeling off him, only to have no such luck and get his shirt soaked.

"Skree... Eeeeee..." the remains of the Saibaman beneath the mower screeched, its clawed hands twitching out from beneath the mower.

"AHHHHHHHHH! KILL IT WITH _FIRE_!" the changeling screeched as the thing began to push the mower off of itself, only for Vent to jump-start it once again, a fresh wailing piercing the air before the thing was turned into a tossed salad that was strewn across the ground. "You think it's dead this time?"

"Only one way to be certain," the brunette said snatching a Zippo lighter from a nearby pedestrian as he was about to take a smoke. "That's bad for you," the teen said leading Beast Boy away before squinting his eyes at the twitching salad on the ground. "HAH!" he called out swinging his arm and flicking his wrist, a flame leaping out of the lighter's end and beneath the lawnmower _***KROOM***_ blowing it sky high and treating the regenerating Saibaman to a baptism of flame.

"Dude, don't you think that was a bit..." Beast Boy said sniffing the air, the scent of burning grass filling the air. "Much?" he questioned as the totaled mower came back down on the exact same spot it'd left with another _***CRASH***_, the golden particles floating into the air signifying its defeat.

"There's no kill quite like overkill, and you _did _say to kill it with fire," Vent said dismissively as he twirled the Zippo lighter in his hands. "Alright, _our _fights have been dealt with, so now we just have to help the others and chase this Eon nutjob outta town."

"But how will we know where they are?" Beast Boy questioned. "Our T-Comm.s are all but _useless_!" he cried before a large spherical explosion went off in the distance.

"There's your answer for ya!" Vent said skating off once again.

"WAIT! What if I run into something even _scarier _than a Saibaman?" Beast Boy cried out the brunette as he skated away.

"BB, I fought Warner Bros. Tasmanian Devil before I got here, and surprisingly enough I was able to keep the same quantity of blood in my body that I have _right now_. I'm pretty sure the worst is behind us."

* * *

><p>"Crap, crap, crap, crap!" Beast Boy cried as, a few minutes later, he and Robin ran away from a clearly pissed off <em>–even if it did a poor-to-nonexistent job of displaying it- <em>PX-5.

"Where's that nutcase when you need him?" Robin blurted out in reference to their other non-metallic male teammate. "It'd be _really nice _if he could do the thing where he got really mad and started kicking the guy's ass!" The most _he'd _been able to do was blow off part of its face, revealing the mechanics underneath, thus explaining why when he raced up its extended arm and cracked the thing across his face with his bo staff, the weapon in his hands shattered like glass. Again. He _really _needed to get his arsenal updated. The fanboy in him wondered if he could get an adamantium bo staff like Gambit's, because it was freakin' sweet.

"Probably helping out one of the girls! Have you ever noticed that he and girls tend to gravitate towards one another?" the changeling asked, sidestepping away from a car that was blown up by a stray laser shot.

"Yeah, I noticed!" Robin quipped back as he ran. "Seriously, has that guy been macking on all the girls on our team while we weren't looking?" he questioned before the ground underneath their feet was detonated, sending them flying through the air with limbs flailing and screams leaving their lips.

* * *

><p>"Why do I suddenly feel the compulsion to <em>accidentally <em>drinking tofu milk, once my mail-in order for that used vintage Vietnam-era gasoline flamethrower I ordered off the internet comes in?" the brunette asked skating down the street with wind-augmented strides. Perking his ears, which had gotten a tad stronger since he was blinded in one eye, he was able to pick up the telltale signs of Cyborg screaming his head off, as well as _something _cackling up a storm. "What's with the sound of those footsteps?" the brunette asked following the tail of cars with melted-off bumbers. "It's almost like..."

"Get back here! That's my _good _leg!"

" . . . Cyborg managed to lose his good leg," the brunette said in a deadpan tone, the cackling form of the battlesuit-clad Experiment 626 scampering off as fast as his little legs would carry him, Cyborg's good leg held above his head and outside its owners grasp.

"And as we can clearly see, 626's destructive tendencies are taking effect," Eon stated matter-of-factly. "Since he's already in a large city, he will be inclined to back up sewers, reverse street signs, and steal everyone's left shoe. Free cookie to anyone who guesses which he started on in the next five minutes."

"Ha hahahaha!" the genetic experiment cackled madly as he turned left around a street sign, which he reversed on the pass with one of his extra arms. Cyborg whipped out his sonic cannon and fired, only to be tipped over by the recoil.

"Jeez, Cy, you've _really_ gotta lay off the pie!" Vent groaned as he skated under the falling Cyborg's back and held him up, the wheels of his _borrowed _in-line skates making sparks as he struggled to keep the cyborg on his feet.

"Vent? Dude, you look like you got thrown under a train. What happened?"

"Thankfully... not getting thrown under a train," the brunette grumbled, throwing one of the cyborg's arms over his shoulder and helping him chase 626. "By the way, you finish those rocket-powered inline skates you were talking about making?"

"Yeah, but I haven't had a chance to test them out yet," the cyborg answered.

"Well, you'd better test them out _now _before that thing uses your leg to back up a sewer line."

"Oh like _hell _he will!" Cyborg said bringing his free hand over to his forearm communicator, unintentionally squishing the brunette's head in his armpit as he began pushing buttons. The next moment down the street, the sole of Cyborg's stolen leg split open, a line of wheels folding out as a cylinder slid out from the back of the heel. Looking up a moment later, 626 began to scream as the rocket in Cyborg's leg began to spin him around in circles, the world around him becoming a blur before his grip on the stolen leg loosened and it went flying. "You go get my leg! _I'll _take care of 626!" Cy said hopping off, the brunette collapsing to the ground and greedily filling his lungs with air once he was freed. Crawling to where the leg landed as he coughed and wheezed, Cyborg lunged madly at 626 who had yet to recover. Soon a very cartoon-ish dust cloud emerged, parts of both Cyborg and 626's bodies flailing out of the dust and into the light of day before getting dragged in, all the while Vent continued to crawl over to where Cy's leg had landed. In the time it took him to get there, the two fighters pulled one another into painful wrestling holds, until Vent finally reached Cy's leg, straightening it out and holding the sole forward like a rocket launcher.

"Alright... Let's see if that override is still there," the brunette said patting along the leg's thigh. Having spent a period of time in Cy's body thanks to the Pupper King's plot, the brunette learned all the ins and outs of Cy's body as-of-then. If anything new had been added since then, he had no clue. "There we go!" he said seeing the sole of Cy's foot split open, a rocket loading into position. "FIRE!" he shouted as he fired a rocket at 626 the moment Cy got a good grip on him, blasting the furry critter through the air. "Cyborg! Catch!" the brunette said throwing the cyborg's leg back to him, the teen catching it and attaching it to his thigh with a twist before rushing at 626, who rubbed his head. Regaining his bearings, his eyes widened when Cy kicked him under the chin, sending him flying through the air like a furry blue football before landing in the bay, golden particles leaving the water as that fight ended.

"BOOYAH! That's for taking my leg!" the cyborg whooped.

"Cyborg, Beast Boy's already helping Robin, so you go find Starfire! I'll go after Raven!"

"Why? So you can mack on her while the rest of us aren't looking?" the cyborg asked coyly.

"URUSAI!" the brunette ranted in Japanese, his cheeks tinted pink as he skated up the side of a nearby building for a birds-eye view of the city. After getting those laughs out of his system, Cyborg looked up to one of the monitors showing Starfire fighting the Incredible Hulk, before cross-referencing the street signs shown and planning an intercept course.

* * *

><p>"<em>Dude, I think you're going to regret that one comment from earlier,"<em> Beast Boy whispered as he and Robin hid behind a dumpster, the Pacifista lumbering by as its optics scanned for its designated targets.

"_What makes you say that?" _the spiky-haired teen questioned.

"_I don't know. Just a feeling I had," _the changeling murmured, the Pacifista mechanically turning its head to face their position. "OHCRAPRUN!" the changeling cried as he morphed into a cheetah and ran off, Robin pulling himself away with his grappling hook as the Pacifista fired another laser at where they once were from its palm, the scent of burning garbage filling the air as the mechanical giant followed behind them, its imposing figure carving deep furrows in the neighboring walls as it pursued the teen heroes.

* * *

><p>'<em>Time to see if all that, ugh, <em>training_, has paid off,' _the mage thought to herself as she dodged the hail of flying red rubber. She didn't know whether she was getting better at dodging those non-lethal rounds after being pegged on the forehead so many times, or if he was just acting like a cat batting around a mouse _–his golden cat-like eyes gave her that distinct impression-_, but she was glad she began training her body as well as her mind. Dodging explosive starbolts _–as low-powered as they may've been- _was a pretty good motivator to get moving and _keep _moving.

Dashing into a nearby bookstore, a hail of rubber bullets shattering the windows behind her, amidst the pandemonium that broke out the mage snagged a deck of tarot cards from one of the shelves. Imbuing the deck with her demonic energy, the mage opened the pack and sent one flying at her opponent, the rectangular card gaining a pair of wings mid-flight as it accelerated towards him, slicing through the bullet sent her way but bouncing off the side of his firearm in a shower of sparks as he brought it up to his face.

"Guess just one isn't enough," Raven said to herself, splaying another five cards out of the deck and in her hand before she sent them flying, these too gaining wings mid-flight as she sent them sailing at the cat-eyed anti-hero. Batting them aside with his firearm marked **XIII**, his eyes darted over his shoulders when the half-dozen cards circling around dove at him once again, the teen taking to the bookshelves in the store and weaving in and out of the attacks. Reloading his pistol, the cat-eyed teen suddenly shot the six cards out of the air with perfect shots to their center, though the sound of a closing door indicated his target had escaped out the back door.

Dashing out of the bookstore, the anti-hero quickly sidestepped as a quartet of ebony lances pierced the ground he once stood at before going to the source. Floating in the air with her cloak billowing behind her was Raven, six bird-like wings made of energy jutting out of her black leotard, the lances that had almost gotten him revealed to be some of the "feathers" from the bottom two wings. Throwing her arms forward, the mage sent another wave of lance-like feathers at Train, who weaved around the attacks with agility on par with Raven's own. Those he couldn't dodge he redirected with gunshots, and just as he had lined up another shot at the mage's forehead, the growing bruise invisible beneath the cowl of her cloak, the teen suddenly whipped his gun around to block a silvery projectile that impacted against the side of Hades, his hair and coat whipped back as he leveled eyes with a roller blade-wearing teen with brown hair and an eye patch over his left eye, his right index finger pointed out like a gun in his direction as his hand glowed silver.

"Hey Raven," Vent said as he pointed his "Air Gun" at the gun-toting anti hero, the winds surrounding his hand reshaping into a bullet shape before his fingers. "Need some help?"

"It'd be appreciated, yes," the mage muttered as she withdrew her "wings". Creating six life-like constructs simultaneously and spontaneously changing their shape was a tad more tolling on her mind then she had initially thought.

"Why don't you take a breather. Leave this guy to me," Vent said as he and train began to circle around one another, respective weapons primed and ready to go. The moment Raven sat down on a bench and levitated a bottle of water from a nearby vendor over to her, the two males in front of her shot towards one another, both of their left hands grabbing the other's right wrists and pointing them away as both their shots were fired. Both leapt into the air and spun in an attempt to dislodge the other, but the two were clearly both acrobatic, and no matter how much they twisted or spun, neither would submit unless by their own accord. The next moment Raven ducked behind a nearby car as a hail of rubber bullets pelted the spot she was at, Train dodging Vent's air bullets that punched small holes in the brick wall behind him, and the two clashed in a flurry of forearm strikes, kicks, and gunfire once more.

"Hn," Train grumbled to himself as he held a vendor in a nearby lunch truck at gunpoint, before snagging a bottle of milk and started guzzling it down, not once taking his eyes off his opponent. In retaliation, the brunette swiped a hotdog out of a shell shocked hotdog vendor's hand and started chowing down, needing to compensate for all the energy he'd expended. What do you expect? He was interrupted before he could even eat his pizza.

The next moment the two rushed at one another, the brunette peppering the ground in front of Train with shots and kicking up a dust cloud, only for the cat-eyed teen to run through unperturbed. The two once again clashed in a flurry of forearms and shins, only for the Hades to come out of nowhere and _***crack* **_the brunette across his left temple. Hobbling to the side, Train swung the pistol into the brunette's ribs. The next moment the brunette was drop-kicked onto the ground, coming to a stop against the side of a car. The aerokinetic attempted to get up, but a shoe to his chest suddenly stopped him.

"Raveeen!" Vent croaked timidly as his gun-toting opponent slowly brought his weapon to bear at the brunette's forehead. "If you've got a Hissatsu-class finisher in the workings, now'd be a _really _good time to use it!" he called out as his opponent's finger slid for the trigger-

_***KLO-O-O-O-O-ONG***_

"U… Ugh…" the gun-toting Eraser groaned as a large brass basin suddenly came down atop his head from nowhere with crushing force, the cat-eyed anti-hero crumpling like a wet sock as he fell to the ground.

"Oh thank God!" the brunette sighed as Train Heartnet suddenly disappeared in a flurry of golden particles. "I thought I was going to die back there!"

* * *

><p>For anyone who had ever visited the planet of Tamaran, or if that was not possible those who knew one of its native people, they'd know that the cat-like people of that planet <em>–even if it didn't show as much as the term "cat-like" would imply- <em>relied heavily on their emotions for, well, just about everything. The feeling of unbridled joy granted them flight, righteous fury allowed them to use their energy projectiles, and when applicable, their laser eyes. When it came to their super-strength, well...

"RUTHA BEGURESH ENTHARGH!"

I'll leave it up to your imagination.

"HULK SMASH!"

'_Whoah...' _Cyborg gaped at the destruction he witnessed before him, resetting the software in his prosthetic eye to make sure he wasn't seeing things. In the part of town that Starfire and the Incredible Hulk had landed in, pretty much every single car had found a new parking space; either impaled through the tops of other cars, through the sides of buildings, floating amidst the waters of Jump City Bay, or in the hands of those who fought and were currently using them as projectile weapons.

"HRRRRRAAAAAAAAGH!"

'_Whoa. No wonder Robin suggested we give the girls the last week of every month off,' _the cyborg thought to himself as he watched an oil truck sail towards the jolly green giant, only for a pair of emerald eye beams to pierce its side and knock the Hulk back a couple feet. _'I do _not _want to get caught in the middle of that,' _he said before winching quite visibly as the Hulk hefted two cars from their parking spots and used them like cymbals in a highschool band, Starfire caught in the middle of them with a loud _***CRASH***_

"_Maaaybe I'll just hang back for now," _Cyborg said to himself in a hushed tone as he tiptoed backwards out of sight. _"At least until I can come up with something," _the cyborg told himself, not wanting to admit he was scared all the way down to his lugnuts about getting anywhere near the destruction going on.

* * *

><p>"Alright, first thing's first..." Vent hummed to himself as he skated through the empty streets, everyone having taken shelter as far away from the fighting as they could once Eon's "Battle Royale" began. "I'll go and rescue those two girls who are screaming in terror, and then I'll-" he said as he turned a corner, a pair of high-pitched screams reaching his ears, though <em>whose <em>lips he saw them leaving made him facepalm. _'Oh god, it's _them _that's screaming,' _he groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, Robin and Beast Boy crying out in terror as the Pacifista shot laser beams at them from its mouth and palms. _'Ugh, I hope Rachael's having better luck on her end,' _the brunette sighed as he shook his head. Looking around, an idea came to mind as he stepped into a nearby store.

* * *

><p>'<em>Ugh, I hope Vincent is having better luck on his end,' <em>Raven sighed to herself elsewhere, choosing to use his real name within the confines of her own mind. She assumed he did the same when thinking of her, but had no way of knowing without violating his privacy, and could never find a good time to ask. It would be kinda awkward. "So, your robot software come up with anything yet?" she asked the Cyborg whom she was currently hiding behind an overturned car with, said cyborg lying sideways in fetal position and sucking his thumb, currently in the midst of the worst panic attack he'd ever head. And considering he got most of his body melted by a monster from another dimension before waking up part-robot, that was saying something.

The response she received was a whimpering cry, obstructed by the opposable digit he was sucking on like a pacifier.

"Yeah, I figured as much," Raven sighed as she peeked over the car she was hiding behind, only to yank it back down as a flying manhole cover almost took her head off. "How strong was this guy in Marvel?"

"Overall..." Cyborg said as he removed his thumb from his mouth, having gotten a bit over his panic attack. "One time, his strength grew so great that he risked sinking the east coast of the United States with the power of his footsteps."

" . . . Isn't that a bit much?" Raven asked. "Then again, Superman probably _can _bench press a small planet, so..."

"Yeah... We're gonna have to think outside the box on this one."

"_Or destroy said box in its entirety," _a familiar voice spoke in his mind.

"Uh, Raven... was that-"

"_Before you ask, I can't connect everyone on the team simultaneously. Excluding myself and Ventus, I can only tune in one other person," _Raven's voice was heard by his ears, though her mouth did not move. _"Since our communicators are useless, we need a way to coordinate with the others that Eon can't mess with."_

"_Telepathic communication. Huh..." _the Cyborg hummed to himself, hazarding a peek around the corner. At the moment Starfire was using her laser eyes on the Hulk, who with some effort held it back with his bare hand before grabbing the girl by her ankle, slamming her into the ground repeated times before Starfire struck the giant's wrist with a powerful starbolt, forcing him to let her go. _"So Robin and Beast Boy are facing off against a fully-functioning Pacifista. How's that working out for them?"_

"_Badly? Between all the screaming and the stragglers I've had to guide away from the fighting, I'm going to need a fistful of aspirin before this is all over."_

"_Well at least Robin and Beast Boy are keeping their cool." _He was met with silence. _" . . . Right?"_

"_You think Robin's screaming now, wait 'til he sees what's coming in the mail for me end of the week," _Vent's voice returned, a dark edge in his tone that spoke only one thing: retribution.

* * *

><p>"<em>You didn't order what I <em>think _you ordered, did you?" _Cyborg asked him.

"So what if I did," Vent asked as he put the finishing touches on his outfit after changing. He wasn't an expert seamstress or anything, but he learned a couple things from the Kents to get by. "I'm going to put my plan into motion. Try to draw the Hulk's attention away from Starfire and lead him towards me."

"_Could you at least fill me on in-"_

"Click beeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

"_What the-"_

"...eeeeeeee *gasp* eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

"_He... he hung up on me! How the hell did he even do that?-!-?" _Cyborg's voice cried out telepathically before Raven seemed to get the memo and cut the line. Fighting with someone else's voice in your head could be a little trying after all.

"Alright..." Vent said inhaling through his nose before exhaling out his mouth, adjusting the hat atop his head and he stepped into the light. "Let's do this thing."

* * *

><p>"WHERE'S THAT GOD DAMN BACKUP!-?-!" Beast Boy cried as he dodged what had to be the hundredth exploding laser beam in the last hour.<p>

"YEAH, SERIOUSLY! I'M STARTING TO LOSE MY PATIENCE!" Robin cried out irately, his cape having long since been incinerated from one of the Pacifista's laser blasts.

"PX-5!-!-!" a new voice shouted into the air, drawing the Pacifista's attention away from the Teen Titans, who took the opportunity to hide behind an overturned truck before looking at their would-be savior. While Beast Boy nodded in acknowledgement, Robin slapped his forehead. Standing out in the street in front of the PX-5 was Ventus, though his attire was vastly different from what it was before. Black boots and blue socks on his feet, he had dark blue pants on his feet, a white sleeveless collared shirt, a blue bandana around his neck, and atop his head was a white cap with blue stripes with the word **MARINE **slapped across the front. In essence, One Piece cosplay. "In the event there are no Marine officers of super ceding rank, command of the Pacifista unit falls to the highest ranked Marine on-site! As such, you are required to do as I say until a more-qualified member of the Marines appears on-site!"

"_What the- There's no way that thing's gonna buy this!" _Robin thought to himself.

The Pacifista in response simply looked down at the Marine-dressed brunette, lights flickering behind his eye lenses before he let out a monotone- "Acknowledged."

"What the flying fuck!-?"

"Alright then..." _'Wow, I can't believe that actually worked,' _the brunette thought to himself. "First order! There's a violent monster that needs to be subdued: set to main priority."

"Acknowledged," the Pacifista spoke as it followed behind the disguised Ventus who led him along, Robin picking his jaw up off the ground before he and Beast Boy followed behind.

* * *

><p>"YOU AIN'T GOT <em>NOTHIN' <em>ON ME!" Starfire shouted irately as she flew backwards, actually using _contractions _of all things while pelting the Hulk with starbolts, but remaining tentatively out of reach forcing the jade giant to follow after her.

"So we're going to have one of these guys finish off the other, and hope they don't cause too much collateral damage in the process?" Raven asked.

"That looks like the plan," Cyborg returned, keeping out of the Hulk's line of sight, lest his fury fall on _their _heads. He wouldn't want to fight someone whose strength was comparable to Superman's. A moment later from around the corner, a familiar brunette in Marine apparel ran out into the open, and following behind him, the PX-5 who seemed to _not _be attacking him, but was instead _following _him.

"PX-5!" the brunette shouted while pointing to the Hulk, Starfire flying out of the way as the PX-5 shot through the air towards the Hulk, mouth releasing a golden glow as he prepared to fire a beam at point-blank. However, the fight was short-lived as the Hulk delivered a brutal overhead punch straight to the Pacifista's skull, a crater formed in the street. With blood pouring down its face and sparks flying out of its broken neck, the Pacifista convulsed before suddenly exploding right at the Hulk's feet. "Well then..." the brunette said nervously as sweat ran down his forehead. "I think I'll just turn around and... RUN FOR MY LIFE!"

"HULK SMASH!" the Hulk bellowed as he chased after the brunette that sicced the exploding robot on him. Lunging forward and about to fly away, the Hulk leapt forward and snatched Ventus out of the air instead, grabbing him by the legs and raising him above his head with the intent to smash.

"NO!" Raven cried out as she threw out her hand, an aura of black magic enveloping Ventus until it suddenly expanded into a full bubble, the Hulk's grip broken and the brunette able to get free.

"Raven! My entire life just flashed before my eyes!" Ventus cried as he ran up to the mage, wrapping his arms around her midsection and burying his face in her cloak, causing the mage to flush bright pink, the burst of emotion knocking the Hulk off his feet as a bus flew into his midsection.

"I-I'm glad you're okay, but you need to fo-focus!" the mage shouted trying to pry him off.

"Right! I'm so sorry!" the brunette apologized, only then realizing his public display of affection was throwing off Raven's control of her powers.

"It's alright," the mage returned as she straightened her cloak, the other Titans coming out of hiding at that very moment, each of them watching the building the Hulk had been thrown into with trepidation gripping their hearts.

"So that's five down, one to go," Robin hummed nervously as he drummed his fingers across his spare bo staff, "but this fight might be the most challenging yet."

"Anyone want to tell me why _no one _seems to be calling the Justice League?" Beast Boy asked nervously. For some reason the Hulk was taking his sweet time prying himself out from that building.

"Because if the Justice League came in every time something bigger than anything you'd ever faced before showed up on your doorstep, this story would be boooooring," Eon spoke up from inside Cyborg's chest before closing the plate behind him, Beast Boy opening it up only to find the connector for Cyborg's battery charger.

"I feel used and violated," Cyborg groaned as he ran his hand down his face. "And not in the good way."

"Is there _ever _a good kind of used-and-violated?" Ventus saw fit to ask.

"Focus!" Robin said getting into a ready stance and twirling his bo staff above his head. "Beings from other dimensions don't make challenges that _can't _be beaten, just make them incredibly difficult at worst, so we have to assume there IS a way to beat the Hulk, and carry it out."

"_How _exactly are we to do that?" Ventus asked.

"I'll tell you when I think of it," Robin said, the Hulk kicking the bus off of him and lumbering forward into the street, anything not bolted to the ground bouncing with each step, and that which _was _bolted to the ground slowly coming loose. "Alright... Let's do this!" the spiky-haired teen shouted, the Teen Titans rushing into the heart of battle, the Hulk storming towards them. As the two titanic forces (pun not intended) were about to collide, the world seemed to freeze, everything gaining an edgier shade, like in anime where two forces were about to monumentally clash.

"**So... Hello everybody," **Eon Ozan spoke as he walked between the two forces, his coloration normal and seemingly unaffected by the complete halting of time.** "You all probably already deduced who Eon Ozan from Dimension Six and Five Thirds is. For those of you that haven't, I'll spell it out in plain English, black and white. Eon Ozan is me, yes, **_**me**_**, the guy writing this story. Of course I made that obvious enough,"** Eon said with a shrug of his shoulders. **"Quite obviously, this is a self-insert, and since fanfiction authors literally DO shape the entire universe of a fanfiction to their whim, me self-inserting myself as a being from a higher plane of existence isn't that much of a stretch. Of course, I won't be doing something like this again, "this" being where I/Eon make an appearance in-story and more-directly shape the outcome of things," **Eon said moving to sit above a crumpled bench, which repaired itself in a flash of golden light. **"What do you expect? It's my world (despite not owning Teen Titans or any references made), so a bench repairing itself isn't that much of a shock. Now what was it I was saying... Ah, yes, the reason for the freeze frame. You see, this chapter is the last before the two-part season finale, and I had already gotten most of this written out, but having the Teen Titans face the Hulk... may've been them biting off a bit more than they could chew. Re-writing it for Starfire's opponent to be different would take too long, and I really want to update this story so I can begin working on the season finale, so I've taken a more roundabout way of ending things for this chapter," **Eon said getting up from his seat. **"The Teen Titans will still fight the Hulk, but off-screen because frankly, I'm stumped on how to take this fight. There are just so many ways they could take him down, whether it's making him revert to Bruce Banner and knocking him out, tossing him into space (which the Hulk has survived before), or sending him to another dimension and causing an out-of-bounds. The Titans of course won't think anything's out of place because to them, they fought the Hulk, and are completely unaware they're in a fanfiction; unless they start actively breaking the 4****th**** Wall, but I don't think this will become that kind of story. I allow you all to interpret this battle as you will, and with that this self-insert bids you, adieu," **Eon said snapping his fingers, a golden flash enveloping anything.

* * *

><p>The battle against the Hulk was long and tiring, probably one of the most in their entire career up to that point. There were tons of collateral damage caused, but Eon Ozan simply sat upon an apple tree that came out of nowhere, a golden sphere of light enveloping all of Jump City and returning it to its original state. Of course, everyone retained their memories of what occurred, and since he had left for his own dimension and no way of following him existed, everyone decided to shrug it off as an isolated incident.<p>

"Man, that was... pretty crazy," Beast Boy sighed as he collapsed into a boneless heap on the couch.

"Tell me about it," Cyborg sighed as he too sat down, his servos groaning, though overall he was alright.

"I still can not believe that method of fighting the Hulk of Incrediblness actually succeeded," Starfire added.

"We were all pretty surprised," Raven sighed as she brewed a cup of tea.

"Some more than others," Ventus also sighed as he stared out the window, appreciating the fact the Hulk hadn't turned him into a smear on the concrete.

"And we're all stronger for it," Robin said grabbing the remote and flipping through channels. "I can feel it in my gut, Slade's going to make his move soon, and when he does, we'll be ready."

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own One Piece (Diable Jambe, PX-5). I do not own the Tasmanian Devil (Disney). I do not own The Incredible Hulk (Marvel). I do not own Experiment: 626 (Disney). I do not own DBZ (Saibaman). I do not own Black Cat (Train Heartnet). **

**Author's Note:  
>For those of you who know that Kcid Nosyarg's name spells Dick Grayson backwards, it should be easy enough to see who Eon Ozan is. Really, it shouldn't be that hard, and at least with <strong>_**him **_**I actually have an excuse for what some may point out and/or "Flame" me for. That doesn't mean I'll take it, but I'll be understanding as to the **_**why**_**.**

**Also the prior's name being changed from Kcid Nosyarg to Mit Ekard is concurrent to the Static Shock/Justice League/Batman Beyond collective universe (I think it's DCAU aka "Earth-12", but I'm not sure) where the Robin in question is Tim Drake. His father in the Batman Animated series was mentioned as being a "John Doe" after being pulled out of the Hudson River.**

**P.S.  
>The search for Ventus' Voice has gone up a few notches, with more suggestions coming in.<br>**Shadow Realm Triforce **suggested that Future Vent sound like David Kaye, the voice of ProtoMan or more commonly Sesshomaru.  
><strong>KitsuneDragon **suggested that Vent sound like either Impulse/Bart Allen from the Young Justice: Invasion (only less hyper), or Zuko out of Avatar the Last Airbender, while his more serious tone would be like Robin/Nightwing from Batman the Animated Series. Future Vent has been suggested to sound like the Deathstroke out of Young Justice: Invasion  
><strong>Guest  
><strong>No name was given apart from this, but they suggested the voice of Josh Keton, who voices Peter ParkerSpider-Man in The Spectacular Spider-Man.**

**As for **_**my**_** thoughts on Ventus' Voice, hmmm...  
>Well, for "Casual Ventus" at the present, while I've taken Natsu out of that race (sounds a little too... excited), that race is still torn between Impulse out of Young Justice: Invasion (or more specifically, what he wouldn't sound like while on a sugar high), and Josh Keton's voicing of Spider-Man from The Spectacular Spider-Man.<br>As for "Serious Ventus", my thoughts on that are that he still sounds like Train Heartnet out of Black Cat. Sesshomaru's voice (at least in my opinion) had too much of a... bishonen sound to it; Ventus isn't ugly or anything, but he isn't so handsome that he sparkles like a disco ball under the light.  
>On note of "Future Ventus", Deathstroke out of Young Justice: Invasion will likely be the winner for the voice he'll have while his helmetmask is on, though when it's off he might sound like ProtoMan out of the MegaMan Battle Network series.  
>If I were looking for a voice for "Old Ventus", while I'm tempted to think he'd sound like Solid Snake in his golden years (Ventus', not Snake's), there's a little too much "smoker's lung" in his voice to make me select that (and Ventus seems like the kind a person that likes breathing clean air too much to smoke). I recently saw Seven Psychopaths at my college theatre, so I'm thinking maybe in his golden years Ventus would sound like Christopher Walken. I can't think of the "accent" he uses, but if I <strong>_**had **_**to select a voice for "Old Ventus" at this point in time, I'd go with Christoper Walken.**


	32. Terra Firma: Terra's Resolve PT 1

**Hey everybody, been a while since my last update. I tell you, this year's been pretty crazy, what with going to school part-time and finding consistent employment with the economy the way it is, so updating fanfiction's been a little more on the backburner than I would've liked. Anyhow, me posting this on New Years of 2014 is not coincidence. As part of my New Year's Resolution, I intend to commit an hour minimum of each weekday exclusively to fanfiction, that way, even though the work will be slow, it'll be **_**some **_**progress made**** towards my collective works. The chapter following this is the finale of Season 2, and will most likely be my first update of the new year, so hopefully I can clear up some of my current works, maybe work on one or two others I've been developing over the course of the past year for your enjoyment. All that aside, I hope you like this chapter. Nearing 16,500 words, its bound to be my biggest chapter in-story to date. I pulled out all the stops on this one.  
><strong>

**Anyhow, with my piece being said, let's get this show on the road!**

* * *

><p>Amidst the shadows of a darkened chamber, orange-tinted like shone through stained-glass windows like one would find in a church or cathedral. The interior was quite bare, appearing as thought it had not been used in a long time, though a collapsed jumble of steel beams betrayed that sentiment. Standing across from one another, the light from outside highlighting only the slightest vestiges of their profiles, were two figures.<p>

"You have had doubts in the past. Made mistakes," the first figure spoke as he stepped forward, revealing himself to be Slade, aka Deathstroke the Terminator. "But all of that is behind you, isn't it?"

"Yes," the second figure spoke stepping forward, revealing herself to be Terra, though in entirely new gear.

From the neck down she was covered in white cloth wrappings, over which she wore a steel breastplate and a black codpiece with a gapped belt-like piece of armor around her waist. She wore matching guards on her shoulders, elbows, and knees which all bore studded extensions. Her hands and feet were covered in black gloves and boots, which were also guarded by steel with studded extensions. Though she wore a pair of steel hair clips with studded extensions above her ears, her hair still spilled over half of her face, obscuring her right eye. If one were to take a closer look, they'd have noticed Terra had grown a couple inches since she was last with the Titans, and her figure had filled out enough that the change was noticeable at a glance. A similar metamorphosis had occurred after Vincent (currently known as Ventus) had completed his training under Slade, at one point being malnourished and thin as a rail, before growing a few inches and putting on enough muscle to have an athletic build.

"And you remember what he said to you, those words that cut deeper than any knife ever could?" Slade asked, discretely activating a recording from the bug he'd planted on her during their first encounter.

"_**Terr, if you'd asked me that a couple months ago I would've said yes in a heartbeat and stuck by your side forever, but… For the first time in a long time, I have a real home and lasting friends. I can't part with that now."**_

"I do," Terra said as those words played through her mind, her conditioning preventing her from shedding tears. She could if she _wanted _to, but she could no longer cry if she wanted _not _to.

"It's _their _fault he didn't stay with you," Slade continued. "Why you remained alone in this world, and the distance between you grew."

"It is."

"And you'll do what must be done to preserve your happiness," the man spoke to her passionately, though in a disinterested undertone.

"I thought you'd never ask," the blond said as her once-kind face turned into a wicked sneer, her glowing hand drawing a stone into her hand before she crushed it into dust. The crushing she did _without _her geokinesis. Clapping the dust from her hands, her hand snatched a disk-shaped object that was thrown towards her. Giving it a hard look, she clipped it to the side of her belt before saying- "I'll put it on when I face the Titans. Mess with their heads a little."

"Excellent," Slade remarked, the item that had been tossed to her being a metal disk bearing a stylized black **S **over an orange background, similar to the one that was once applied to Robin's chest during _his _stint as apprentice.

"I'm going to go warm up. Call me when you need me," Terra said drawing her hands upwards, the earth at her feet moving like liquid mercury around her before forming a sphere. Rising into the ceiling, the closed sphere moved through it as though it were liquid, the rock hardening into solid rock moments later.

"Do you honestly think she'll follow your lead forever?" a feminine voice filled with disdain spoke after a few moments, a single eye opening from the shadows that was not Slade or Terra's own.

"Not forever. Simply for as long as it takes to achieve my true objective, Ravager," Slade addressed without looking over his shoulder.

"Hn. It's _always _been about your true objective, hasn't it?" the girl addressed as "Ravager" asked from the shadows. "How exactly do you intend to keep _him _under control once you have him?"

"How indeed," Slade replied as a lit canister hidden in the shadows opened up, the light revealing a set of armor similar to Terra's, but sized for a larger male frame. "Remind me to get that wiring fixed," he remarked evenly, Ravager's single eye rolling before she vanished completely into the shadows.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, the Titans had gotten over the appearance of the <em>two <em>dimension hoppers that left them scarred for life, and after putting a muzzle on Beast Boy so he wouldn't jinx them like last time, it seemed like they really _were _in the clear. After a day of fighting crime and a few public appearances to boost morale after the shit hit the fan, the Titans were heading off to the Pizza Corner for a quick dinner before heading home, Robin riding alongside the T-Car on his R-Cycle so Ventus could ride shotgun with Cyborg. Mainly because Robin didn't want anyone but _him _driving his stuff, same as how Cyborg wanted to be the only one driving the T-Car. That and Cyborg had yet to install an extra seat.

"Okay, okay, I got one. Why are ducks so funny?" Beast Boy asked in his attempt at humor "Because they're always quacking jokes!" While Beast Boy laughed at his own funny, Cyborg groaned softly, while Ventus could only think to himself-

'_I'm starting to wish Eon left BB's mouth backwards. At least then he wouldn't be cracking as many bad jokes.'_

"Pull over. I think I'm gonna be sick," Raven groaned from her seat by the window.

"Oh, I see! It is humorous because ducks lack the large brain necessary for the telling of jokes," Starfire giggled.

"Actually, it wasn't really all that funny," Vent said in a very cut-and-dry tone prompting a confused- "Huh?" –from the changeling.

"Because _Beast Boy _lacks the large brain necessary for telling jokes," Raven returned, the red-eyed teen in the car cracking a smile at the mage's own wit.

"Come on, Raven, you know I'm hilarious. And I'm not gonna give up until I get you to smile," Beast Boy challenged.

"You're fighting an uphill battle, Beast Boy," Vent warned, but the changeling persisted.

"Okay, why did the aardvark cross the road?" the changeling asked as the light in front of them turned red.

"To beat up the idiot telling jokes about him?" Raven answered, prompting the two in the front seat to laugh.

"Please. An aardvark is some form of duck?" Starfire asked in a confused tone as the light turned green. A moment after the T-Car rolled through the intersection, a large boulder suddenly flew in from the cross street and bulldozed it away, the T-Car tumbling over and over, the windshield cracked as it skid into an upright stop in a horrible scream of smoldering rubber. As Robin pulled up in the R-Cycle and dismounted, Starfire blasted her door out of its hinges and Raven blew out the sunroof.

"Hey guys. Miss me?" a familiar voice asked, the Titans turning to the wall of dust and smoke as a familiar blond stepped out, her attire entirely different from what she wore when they last saw her. She had gained a couple inches in height and was no longer as thin as a rail, though the smirk on her face told them she _wasn't _there for a friendly reunion.

"Oooogh... Anyone get the number on the thing that hit us?" Vent groaned as he rolled out of the T-Car, a flash of blond hair billowing in the wind prompting him to shake the dizziness away. "Terra? Terra is that you?" he asked as he clapped his face before running towards her, the others trying to stop him once they connected it was Terra whom assaulted the T-Car, though he was already out of arm's reach.

"Ven?" Terra asked as the smirk on her face evaporated, replaced with a concerned look as the brunette came to a stop in front of her. "Your eye... what happened?" she asked taking a step towards him, the blond cupping the brunette's face in her hands, and the T-Car's engine exploding a moment later and sending the hood flying into the air.

"Um... Nothing but a flesh wound," the brunette chuckled weakly as he took her hands in his own.

"_No, it isn't..."_ Terra murmured. "It's my fault that happened... isn't it?"

"It wasn't _your _fault. It was that crazy _robot's _fault," the brunette argued with a shake of the head, the blond's cheeks flushing a bit as he looked her figure up and down, the cloth bandages leaving little to the imagination, while her armor concealed enough to leave _some _to the imagination. "I can't help but wonder about the new... clothes," he spoke up, the reason for his hesitation being that the only piece of her attire that really counted as "clothes" being the scarf she wore around her neck.

"_Guys, what do we do?" _Beast Boy asked, he and the others having not moved from in front of the T-Car since Vent had run out ahead of them.

"_For the time being, we see if Vent can end this fight before it even starts," _Robin ordered. _"We don't _look _for fights, we try to stop them before they start and retaliate only if necessary."_

"_She totaled my ride," _Cyborg groaned poignantly.

"Ven... About why I left..." Terra muttered as the rest of the world began to fade out, noticing the brunette was still holding her hands.

"Like I said before, it doesn't matter. Let's... Let's just go home and work all this out, okay?" he pleaded trying to lead her towards the Titans who had yet to attack in retaliation. Though he was caught off guard when Terra wrapped her arms around his chest, he didn't push her away.

"Ven..." Terra sighed as she inhaled his scent, momentarily losing herself in it before remembering what she had come there to do. "I'm sorry... for everything... and I hope you can forgive me once this is all over," she said returning the scarf around her neck to its rightful owner. The one given to her at what felt like so long ago.

"Terra?" Vent said confused as Terra stepped around him, her hand glowing gold before she threw it up, the concrete and asphalt at his feet rising up like liquid and enveloping most of his body. Throwing the same hand down, Vent was dragged down like quicksand before the earthen material hardened around him, leaving only his head and shoulders exposed, facing away from the others. "Terra! What are you doing?-!" he shouted as he struggled to get free.

"_What I have to," _she said in a hushed tone as she threw her other hand up, a dome of rock rising above his head, a hole in the top so he could still breath. As the others tensed, Terra inhaled through her nose before her remorseful expression snapped into a wicked smirk. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting," she said walking towards the Titans, the ground cracking with each step. Unclasping the disk from her hip and affixing it to her chest, the shocked expressions on the fives' faces was more than enough of a green light. "Let's dance. HRRRAH!" she yelled fiercely as the raised her hands above her head before throwing them forward, sharp chunks of stone like shrapnel flying towards the Titans. The Titans quickly bailed, leaving the T-Car to absorb the full bombardment as glass, headlights, tires, frame, and body panels were all mercilessly battered. Beast Boy, who'd taken cover behind the large rock that had first been thrown at them, could only gape as said boulder was effortlessly tossed into the air, crushing what was left of the T-Car like an aluminum can.

"Titans! Go!" Robin shouted as the Titans mobilized.

"I will free friend Ventus," Star said readying her eyebolts.

"No!" Raven said pushing Star's gaze away, her eyebolts just grazing the side of the dome. "If you blast a hole in it, you could bury him alive."

"Glad you noticed," Terra chuckled, while hiding the sigh of relief that had passed her lips by the close-call. "How about we leave the innocent bystander out of this, okay?" she asked in a condescending tone as she raised a wall of earth before the dome with a wave of her arm, separating it from the Titans. Raising a platform of rock beneath her feet, she flew at the Titans who rushed towards her en force, a fissure opening up along the street and forcing Robin to the left while Beast Boy and Cyborg went right. Starfire who was on the right was thrown back by a boulder that shot up to meet her in the face, while a pillar on the left threw Robin into the air. Cyborg sent a sonic blast at Terra's ride, only to chop a part of it away, which was then thrown at Cyborg, who in turn was thrown into Raven. Beast Boy being the only one left jumped and turned into a hawk midair, a quick swoop putting him face-to-face with Terra.

"Terra, think about what you're doing!" the changeling pleaded.

"I already have!" Terra said letting the rock supporting Beast Boy's weight fall away as she in turn let herself slide off the back of the rock. Gripping the edge as her eyes glowed gold, she began spinning in midair and with a yell sent the platform towards Starfire like a discus. Blasting it with her eyebolts and shaving off its bulk, there was enough left it to nail her in the face, though no real damage was caused. As the geokinetic skid to a stop, she raised a pair of boulders to crush both Robin and Cyborg, her attention diverted by the rock she used to crush the T-Car being levitated by a black aura.

"Don't make me hurt you," Raven growled positioning the boulder above Terra's head.

"Don't' make me laugh," Terra countered as she broke the mage's hold over it and sent the boulder sailing towards Raven, who stepped back only for the force to throw her down the street. The momentary distraction however was enough for Robin and Cyborg to get close to her and try hand-to-hand, the geokinetic dropping the two boulders that had once been above their heads and responding in kind. She deflected their punches with her forearms, grabbing Robin's extended leg and kicking Cyborg in the gut before sending Robin flying away with a snap kick to the sternum, all in the course of a few seconds. Cyborg being the first to recover sent a sonic blast at her, the geokinetic ducking underneath it before raising a pillar of earth into the cyborg's sternum with a glowing uppercut. Glancing to the side, she saw Robin running to the stone wall separating the trapped aerokinetic from the others, the exploding disk he threw at it being the likely start of a rescue attempt. "Oh no you don't!" Terra said yanking a small piece of the rock the disk was attached to away before sending it flying towards Robin, who recoiled before Starfire leapt between the two, her body absorbing the blow, Robin catching her as the two were sent flying.

"Beast Boy! Take her!" Raven called out, the blond turning around to see the greenette running towards her, turning into a wolf mid-run and leaping towards her. To the changeling and mage's surprise however, Terra was able to wrest his momentum with a hand to the muzzle and another to the stomach, slamming the wolf onto his back eliciting a loud _***EYIPE***_. Raising her foot to curb-stomp the changeling's most sensitive area, Beast Boy quickly turned into a crab and scuttled away as fast as his crab legs would carry him, cowering behind Raven like a kicked puppy. Didn't help he turned into one. Figuratively speaking

"Is this the best you guys can do?" Terra taunted with her fingers laced behind her head, the Titans regrouping after being beaten down like they had. "I'd have thought after that robot attack you'd tighten up your shot group, but I guess Slade overestimated you a bit."

"Terra, why are you doing this!?" Robin demanded.

"It's not like you really _care _about my answer, you narrow-minded pansy," Terra quipped, picking at how Robin's words had chased out one of the Titans in the past. "You just want a reason to hear yourself talk. The smallest dog always _does _have the loudest bark," she taunted, causing Robin to bristle. "Now then," the blond said popping her knuckles and cracking her neck. "Time to take this straight to Level One."

"Level what?" Beast Boy asked dumbly.

"HRRRRAAAAAH!" Terra roared out as she raised her hands above her head before slamming them into the ground, glowing fissures spreading out across the ground in front of her, towards the Titans. What none expected however, was for her to throw her fists skyward, summoning a trio of mud-borne golems from the ground, pieces of concrete and pipe forming armored shells over their bodies, one with pipes on the ends of its arms, another with massive stone fists, and the other with hook-like claws. "Whoa. How did I-"

"You didn't. I did," Slade spoke through the radio receiver plugged into her ear. "Your new suit is more than a fashion statement, my dear. It is a sophisticated neural interface that give me direct access to your nervous system. Your power is my power, my strength is your strength," he spoke into her ear as Terra's right fist was raised, though outside her own volition. "We are connected, Terra. United as master and apprentice! We fight, as one! HRRRRRRAAAAAH!" both Slade and Terra cried in unison as they raised their fists above their heads, Terra's fists slammed against the ground and spreading a myriad of glowing cracks all throughout the street.

Moments later the three golem sunk into the ground like it were quicksand, one of them appearing behind Cyborg a moment later. Whipping his sonic cannon around, the cyborg's arm was batted aside before a massive stone fist caught him in the sternum and sent him flying. Starfire moved to attack the rock-fisted golem, but the one with pipes on the ends of its arms shot concentrated slurry, sending her flying into the side of a building. Raven dragged up mailboxes and streetlights before sending them flying at the two visible golem, only for the clawed one to rise out of the ground and bat them aside, Beast Boy charging at it in the form of a rhino only for the golem to drop underground once more, the one that attacked Starfire firing slurry at the green rhino, which was able to fight its way past the current, but had to abort when the rock-fisted one rose up and tried for a double axe handle. Robin threw a number of exploding discs at Terra knowing _she _was the source of the golem's ability to animate themselves, but twitches of her fingers caused pillars of earth to intercept each one. What shocked him was that the pillars didn't raise to _block _the exploding disks, but shot upwards through each one and impaling them before they could even go off. The three golems then dropped below ground before rising with only their forearms exposed, which moved through the streets like shark fins. The rock-fisted one attacked Cyborg like a battering ram, the clawed one dragging Beast Boy behind it by the leg, and the pipe-armed one bombarding both Starfire and Raven.

"Titans! Fall back!" Robin shouted drawing a smoke bomb from his belt.

"What about Vent?" Raven called out, the sound of an explosion accompanied by a cloud of rock and dust cutting through the battlefield. Moments later the brunette in question soared high into the air before landing in a crouch in front of them.

"What _about_ me?" the brunette asked as he dusted himself off and cracked his neck, running at the three golems solo, once again before the others could stop him. Leaping into the air and tucking into a ball, the silver aura from his eyes and hands bled over the rest of his form before he began spinning rapidly, his body encased in a shell of wind as he sailed towards the first golem like a silver dodge ball. Terra felt herself raising her arms -_and by extension the golem's_- to swat the brunette out of the air, but she quickly forced its arms down, the spinning sphere of wind impacting the first golem and sending it stumbling backwards. Rebounding into the air from the homing attack, Ventus formed another shell of wind around himself before spinning, repeating the process against the second and third golems, having upset all three before flying towards Terra. Uncurling at the last moment, Terra received a momentary glimpse of his focused, singular red eye, before one hand reached past her head, the other striking her chest in a palm strike before a burst of compressed air sent her flying down the street, though not in a way she couldn't recover from. "Slade... I won't let you win, you hear me?" the brunette growled into the radio transmitter he plucked from the blond's ear, crushing it between his fingers before he ran over to the other Titans, Robin throwing the smoke discs in his hand to the ground as the Titans made good with their escape.

_*Cough. Cough.* _"Should I go after them?" Terra asked between coughs, finding that even though she'd suffered a direct hit, no real damage had been done.

"No, Terra. In time, the Titans will come to 'us'," Slade spoke through her remaining radio transmitter. Dusting herself off, a sharp _***crack* **_sound echoed in her ears, prompting her to look down, the **S**-marked disc on her chest split in half down the middle before falling off her chestplate.

'_Ven...' _A moment later, Terra drew a sphere of earth around herself before sinking to the ground, praying that everything would work out in the end as she returned to Slade's side.

* * *

><p>"I shoulda blasted her when I had the chance," Cyborg growled angrily at the Tower command center a few minutes later, picking earthen shrapnel out of his armor which could cause structural failures later on if left unchecked.<p>

"I should've hit her with everything I've got," Raven growled as she shook some dirt out of her hair and cloak.

"Why couldn't we take her down just like any other criminal?" Robin growled as he punched a fist into his palm.

"Because..." Vent said working the cricks out of his back, having forced his way through solid rock to get to the team. "She isn't just 'any other criminal'. She was a Titan, our friend. _My friend," _he whispered the last part out with clenched fists.

"But that does not change the fact that she is now evil," Starfire spoke up, remembering how it had felt to watch her friend be... swallowed up, and then completely isolated.

"But she _can't _be evil. There has to be some kinda explanation for this," Beast Boy spoke up, still feeling some form of attachment to the blond even after she'd asked out his friend behind his back.

"Hey man, the girl wrecked my car. Seems pretty evil to me," Cyborg objected.

"Don't you guys get it? It's never that cut-and-dry when it comes to Slade," Vent shouted. "For every move of his you see, there are three more he _doesn't _let you see. Robin!" he said pointing at the spiky-haired teen. "You worked for Slade once, but did we give up on you?"

" . . . She gets one more chance," Robin said sternly after a minute's internal debate, keeping his gaze squared solely on the brunette adversary across from him.

" . . . Thank you," the brunette then said gratefully. "I know this is asking a lot, but we need to try and break Slade's grip on her, give her one more chance," he pleaded to the others, before the Tower alarms began to go off.

"Trouble!" Starfire called out as a video feed was being sent to the Tower, Cyborg bringing the feed up on screen revealing the Jump Maximum Security Prison, as seen from one of the officer's helmet cams. The trooper's gaze panned up to Terra who was riding a chunk of rock, other troopers firing at her only for the blond to stomp down on her platform, earthen shrapnel knocking most of them off their feet with impaled weapons. The next moment a loud groaning sounded out, the camera panning right as a broad column of rock shot up through the top of one of the towers, with Cinderblock standing atop it. Moments later, Plasmus and Cinderblock followed, and Terra could be seen throwing **S**-marked discs like the one that _used _to be on her armor, onto their chests.

"Give her one more chance... starting _now_," the brunette said bashfully after a moment's pause, but knowing once this was all over, the blond had some _serious _explaining to do. He _hoped _this could be resolved with words, but a sinking feeling in his stomach told him things would get worse before they got better. And from his own experience in Battlefield Tactics, a course in his training which Slade taught personally because he couldn't trust anyone _else _to teach something so vital, he knew you could bet money on that.

* * *

><p>"We've got three escaped criminals attacking three separate targets," Robin said briefing the team over a holographic map of Jump City and the surrounding area. "Whatever Slade's doing, we have to split up and stop it."<p>

"Robin and I shall defeat Cinderblock," Starfire spoke up, already knowing her assignment.

"Beast Boy and I'll take Plasmus," Cyborg spoke up.

"And that leaves Raven and I for Overload," Ventus spoke up. "We'll worry about Terra when this is over."

"Sorry, Vent, but you're in no condition for this kind of fight," Robin interjected. "Out of all of us, you're in the worst shape."

"I can handle Overload on my own. For the time being, stay here and keep us up-to-date on their movements," Raven spoke up before Vent could object. "If Slade pulls something in the city while we're preoccupied, we want to know about it ASAP."

"What? But I-" the brunette spoke up, only for the hard look the mage was giving him to put him in his place. "Fine," he grumbled under his breath, the others pairing up and heading off to their own assignments, though strangely Raven remained behind. "Don't you have a supped-up floppy disk to fight or something?" he asked the mage, not really liking being kept on the sidelines.

"I'll get to that in a minute. For the time being, I need you to come with me," she said floating off, the brunette following until they eventually made their way towards her room, which she beckoned him to enter. Walking in, he noticed that the throw rug had been rolled up and put over to the side, a large magical circle drawn with chalk now on the floor.

"Um... Raven...?" the brunette asked nervously as candles oriented around the circle began to light themselves one by one, almost like something out of an occult movie.

"Relax, I'm not making you a human sacrifice or anything," Raven said dryly as she floated over the circle and towards her desk, sitting upon it a single grimoire and a number of notes strewn around it. "I've come across a long-term solution that will help you regain the sight in your left eye, and I'm concerned that if I don't apply it soon... I may not get the chance to."

"Is this like how you changed my hair and eye color way back when?" the brunette asked, taking care not to touch any of the candles or chalk. He also chose to ignore how Raven implied this mission might be a one-way trip once she left. Like the Suicide Mission in Mass Effect 2.

"Those potions only changed the aesthetics," Raven commented as she flipped through a few pages, her eyes scanning over the archaic script within before turning back to him. "This spell I will be performing will transfer a concentrated sphere of my magic directly into the connective area between your body in spirit. As the collection of magical energy "decomposes", the bleedoff will enhance your body's ability to repair itself, the same as if I were actively healing you myself, completely independent from my state of consciousness."

"So basically a long-term healing spell that you don't need to focus on?" the brunette asked as he began to follow what was going on.

"Yes. Now," she said as her eyes glowed white within her cloak, Ventus' feet enveloped in a black aura as he was made to tiptoe in to the center of the circle, the bottoms of his sneakers settling down within a pair of drawn ovals in the center. "Don't move from that spot. It'll be over with soon," Raven ordered as the candles began to burn brighter, magic verses spoken in a language the brunette could not understand passing the mage's lips. Turning her palms upward, a glowing white sphere of magic with a black flame-like aura appeared in her hands, and floating a bit higher, she suddenly drove the sphere into the brunette's face. Ventus, finding his feet glued to the floor, bit back the surprised cry that threatened to leave his lips as he felt the magical sphere being absorbed into his left eye through the eye patch, like a cold flame coursing through his veins. And just as quickly as it had begun, the ritual had ended, the candles reduced to nothing more than melted wax on the ground with wisps of smoke rising from what remained of the wicks, the magical circle on the ground evaporating, causing the brunette to fall backward onto his ass. "It is done," the mage sighed with a sense of finality as she settled back down onto the floor. "How do you feel?"

"I feel..." Ventus said rubbing the side of his face, "odd. Is that normal?"

"Comparatively speaking... yes," Raven admitted after a moment's debate. "Now, before I go to deal with Overload, I need you to do something for me."

"Sure. What is it?"

"Promise me, no matter what, that you won't leave the Tower until I get back. Is that understood?" Raven asked.

" . . . Yes..." the brunette replied slowly, the light in his visible eye dimming for a moment, though Raven shrugged it off as being from the poor lighting in her room. Her... condition, made it so visibility in the dark was never an issue for her.

"Good. I'll be back soon," the mage said as her magic enveloped her in the form of a large raven, which flew through the wall and towards the outskirts of Jump. Blinking his remaining eye and shaking his head, the brunette headed back toward the living room to wait, for some reason feeling very... subservient, to the mage's demands. And apparently, neither noticed anything amiss with the pages of the book Raven had read from.

* * *

><p>After the numerous cave-ins at the old quarry outside the city, Jump had decided to cut funding and focus on more lucrative ventures. The mine shafts being shut down wasn't considered a major loss, since most of the veins of mineable materials had already been exploited. The fact that this area held no strategic value, in neither the short nor long-term, put Robin on edge as he and Starfire dropped down into the center of the quarry. Only a few pieces of mining equipment had been left behind, primarily those that were too beat-up to repair and move out, leaving only a few bundles of I-beams and piles of raw material lying around that would not be used in other projects.<p>

"Robin, I do not like this," Starfire said as she and the Boy Wonder made their way through the open area at the quarry's center, backs to one another and eyes covering as much of the land as they could.

"Me neither," Robin said as his eyes narrowed, adjusting the Kevlar-reinforced chainmail beneath his uniform, which he'd taken to wearing after that one Sladebot had almost chopped him in half. "Reports said Cinderblock went this way, and he was sighted going down into the quarry."

"Yes, I would imagine it would be with much difficulty that a creature as large as Cinderblock could simply disappear," Starfire said as she raised her hand, a globe of light formed over her fist as she illuminated the area. The sudden light revealed massive footprints criss-crossing the ground over one another repeatedly, the trail too difficult to follow, almost as though Cinderblock had done so deliberately.

"Yeah. Disappear..." Robin grumbled as he looked around, trying to find any place the hulking behemoth could possibly hide. All the barricades in front of every mine entrance were still in place, and there's no way he could squeeze into any of them without leaving a trail. That meant Cinderblock was somewhere nearby.

"**GRAAAAAH!" **Cinderblock roared as he stood to full height, sending the pile of raw materials he had been hiding under flying before reaching into the pile of I-Beams and pulling a pair out, brandishing them like two clubs as he slammed the ends into the ground. Even though a bit of rust had accumulated, the bite they had wouldn't be any less forgiving.

"HIYAH!" Starfire called out as she sent a charged starbolt at Cinderblock. Without an ounce of fear in his face Cinderblock swung one of his clubs to bat it aside, the end of which was melted clean off. Grunting in annoyance he chucked what remained at Robin while throwing the complete one like a lance at Starfire. Robin dodged the half thrown at him, while Starfire melted the I-beam that came at her with her laser vision until it was nothing but hot slag at her feet. This however didn't prepare them for the horizontal deluge of steel beams that were sent their way. Charging energy into her fists, Starfire began punching away whatever steel beams were sent her way, while Robin used years of acrobatics training to leap around whatever came _his _way, slowly forming a maze of steel beams around them.

"Starfire, don't let him get to anything else!" Robin said bounding to the top of the nearest beam stuck in the ground and drawing an exploding disk. In return, Cinderblock dragged a massive fist through the ground before throwing up a wave of rock that intercepted the blast. _'What's going on here?-! Cinderblock's _never _fought this smartly before!' _Robin thought biting his cheek as Cinderblock strafed around Starfire's blasts. Grabbing a spare chain from the nearby crane, Cinderblock sent it out at Starfire, wrapping around her waist before hauling her out of the air and right to him, delivering a wicked headbutt that threw the alien girl's head back with a _***SNAP* **_"STARFIRE!" Robin cried out, only for the alien girl's eyes to snap open, glowing a bright green before she lashed out with a kick, Cinderblock raising a hand to guard, being pushed back instead of knocked off his feet. A moment later a wicked sneer pulled itself onto Cinderblock's face as he jumped into the air and raised his arms for a double axe handle. Anticipating this, Starfire raised her arms to block, but another sneer came to Cinderblock's face as instead of the axe handle, he went for a forward snap kick that went clear under Starfire's guard and sent her tumbling into the collection of beams. As Robin pushed beams away and pulled Starfire out, Cinderblock suddenly began running to the surface. "He's getting away," Robin growled as he sent an exploding disk to stall, only for his stone-borne opponent to reach into the nearby wall and pluck a rock which he threw into the incoming projectile. _'There it is again! Those aren't untrained motions, that's the skill of a true fighter. But how could someone like Cinderblock know moves like that?'_

"How indeed, Robin," Slade spoke through Cinderblock using the Neural Interface, though this was unheard as the behemoth made it to the top of the quarry. Starfire carrying Robin quickly flew out of the quarry and at Cinderblock, Robin helping Starfire build momentum before she lashed out with a wicked kick. Cinderblock, or rather _Slade_, capitalized on this and grabbed the alien girl's leg before it impacted his side. Slamming her into the ground and taking Robin along for the ride, the Boy Wonder bounced across the ground before falling over the side of the cliff.

"ROBIN!" Starfire cried out as she reached for him, only for Cinderblock to grab her leg and drag her back before dropping his right knee onto her chest. Pinned to the ground, the tamaranean was powerless against the blows that then rained down upon her one after another, her head being buried further and further into the ground with each blow, her consciousness slowly slipping away. These blows in turn caused the cliff overlooking the nearby ocean to rumble, causing Robin, who was using a pair of birdarangs to climb back up, to stumble a few times. At the moment he pulled himself up, ignoring the aching feeling in his ribs, the Boy Wonder's eyes widened as he bore witness to Cinderblock curbstomping Starfire into the ground before yanking her up by her red hair, the girl barely consciousness.

"STARFIRE!" the Boy Wonder cried out, winching painfully at the outburst, already feeling the bruises that began to form beneath his uniform. Seeing the Boy Wonder back in the game, the Slade-controlled Cinderblock tossed Starfire into the air before bringing his elbow down onto her back, simultaneously driving her stomach into his raised knee, the alien girl letting out a pained cry as green-colored blood came out of her mouth in ragged coughs. "NOOOOO!" Robin cried out as Cinderblock bucked his heel, tossing Starfire into the air before catching her back with his foot and sending her flying over Robin's head and into the ocean below. Whirling around to run after her, the last thing he saw was the terrakinetic blond rising up on a boulder, the collapsible staff in her hands cracking him across the head as he was thrown onto the ground. Now _his_ consciousness slipping, a cruel laughter met his ears as he saw the blond now standing on Cinderblock's shoulder and flying away using his earthen frame.

* * *

><p>"A chemical treatment plant. Of <em>course <em>Plasmus would come here," Cyborg groaned as he adjusted the bandoleer of capsules slung over his shoulder and across his chest. At his side, Beast Boy was wheezing and gasping for air as he fell onto his face at the entrance of the chemical plant outside the city. Carrying a 200+ pound cyborg via horseback, when _he _was the horse, took a lot of stamina out of him.

"Can we _*wheeze* _take a _*gasp* _breather?" Beast Boy asked.

"Man, you are _really _out of shape," Cyborg said dismissively shrugging his shoulders, slightly jostling the bandoleer of green-filled capsules attached.

"Shove it _*wheeze* _Cyborg. I just had to _*gasp* carry _your cyborg ass all the way _*wheeze*_ here," Beast Boy griped in return. "What _are _those things anyway?"

"A powerful chemical base, just in case Plasmus suddenly learns to spew acid or something," Cyborg said with a shrug of his shoulders. It never hurt to be prepared, and while the capsules didn't look like much on the outside, their contents were highly concentrated.

"You probably just jinxed us," Beast Boy said getting to his feet, munching on some tofu chips in his pocket to replenish his energy.

"Well we won't know until we get inside," Cyborg said with a shrug of his shoulder, before tapping into his built-in T-Comm. "Vent. Slade pull anything yet?"

"Not yet. Robin and Starfire have yet to engage Cinderblock. Where are you guys?"

"We're right outside the chemical plant. Once BB catches his breath, we'll move in."

"Alright then. I'll send status updates to the others," the brunette returned. "Ah, it appears that Robin and Starfire have arrived at the quarry, but have yet to find Cinderblock, and Raven is still en-route to where the local power-draw says Overload is heading."

"Well c'mon Beast Boy, don't want to be the last ones back, do we?" Cyborg asked as they went in, Beast Boy finishing the last of his tofu chips before heading in. The place had poor lighting, thus Cyborg had to activate his shoulder-light, revealing the place to be completely automated; it was past office hours, so the human staff wasn't present either. It was as they made their way past several tanks, that Plasmus swirled into being, only to swirl down into the bottom like the action of an industrial-sized toilet, the two whirling around only to see a canister full of green chemical. Turning around and being on their way, Plasmus rose up from the canister with a loud _***SKREEEEEE***_, the two whirling around to face their noxious nemesis. Its belly bulging, the thing then threw its head forward, a stream of green liquid shooting towards the two, which Cyborg dodged while Cheetah-BB ran out of the way. Soon noxious fumes rose from the point of contact as the base of the machine it hit was eaten away, the device soon toppling over.

"I told you you'd jinx us!" Beast Boy cried back in human form as Plasmus shot bursts of acid at Cyborg, the teen using past track & field experience to duck and leap over each spray. One such spray caught him on the leg, Cyborg crying out as he rolled behind a large piece of machinery. Cracking a capsule open, the chemical base within spilled over his leg, neutralizing the acid, though some of the titanium alloy plating had already been eaten through. "Hey B, how you holding out over there?" he asked peeking around the edge, cheetah-BB bounding through the room before making his way over to him.

"Come on, let's get this over with so we can find Terra," he said transforming into a pterodactyl. His talons gripping Cy's shoulders, the changeling took to the air. Plasmus rounded on them and in turn shot streams of acid at them, the changeling swerving around each shot. Once he had his shot, Cy blew a hole clean through Plasmus and jumped through while pterodactyl-BB sailed overhead. Stopping into a roll as BB landed in a crouch beside him, the cyborg then blew Plasmus' legs out from underneath him, causing the legless mass to fall to the ground, before collapsing into the hole prior blown through its stomach. "You think we got it?"

_***SKREEEEEE***_

"Did you just _have _to ask that?" Cyborg asked as Plasmus reformed, as if he hadn't had a hole blown through him or his legs taken off.

"We just have to keep wearing him down," Beast Boy argued. While most would think an opponent without bones to be broken or organs to be ruptured would be nigh-unstoppable, Plasmus had a very _finite _amount of stamina to draw upon, and once that was exhausted, it would be their win.

"What I wouldn't give for one of Robin's freeze discs," Cy groaned.

"You bring anti-acid bombs but not one of _those_?-!" Beast Boy asked as he avoided a clawed swipe from Plasmus.

"No one knows where Robin keeps his gear but _Robin_!" Cyborg argued as he fired another shot, only for Plasmus to open up around the strike. "That's new."

_***SKREEEE* **_Unlike Cinderblock, Plasmus was entirely incapable of articulating human speech, and after the added chemical exposure, was nothing more than a mindless beast incapable of ever regaining human form. Perfect for Slade to control. Of course he had no idea how to replicate Plasmus' ability to split into multiple parts and have them act independently, but one body per encounter was enough for his purposes.

"Just keep blasting, he can't move around _all _of them!" Beast Boy said as he turned into a rhino and charged before leaping at Plasmus' center, only for the creature to raise its hands into a double axe handle and bring them down, right after its hand grew in size and weight. The green rhino made an indention in the floor before bouncing into the air, Cyborg snatching him up and bolting away while firing blasts as Plasmus' face, the creature raising its arms to guard.

"Something's seriously wrong here. Plasmus _never _used to fight like this," Cyborg grumbled under his breath as he moved through the shadows behind the heavy machinery, Plasmus screeching as it slashed machinery apart in its attempt to find them.

"Well, we've only fought him two, three times tops," Beast Boy said from under the cyborg's arm. "Maybe he's just _learning_?"

"Maybe, but there's something off about that learning curb," Cyborg said setting the changeling down. "We won't win in a straight-up fight with just the two of us. Let's see if there's anything here we can use against him."

"You mean like that?" Beast Boy asked pointing up, Cyborg following the changeling's finger.

"That could work," Cyborg said with an affirmative nod. "However, we'll need a distraction. And by "we", I mean _me,_" he said before grabbing Beast Boy by the back of his collar and belt before throwing him high into the air, the changeling squealing as he flailed through the air, drawing Plasmus' attention to him.

"You suck!" Beast Boy cried before he transformed into a peregrine falcon and flew off, dodging Plasmus' acidic mucous. Meanwhile, Cyborg climbed up a ladder in the background, before making his way across the catwalk and into a control room. Plugging himself into the computer systems, machinery slowly whirred to life before the overhead lights came on, momentarily blinding Plasmus. As the behemoth blinked its "eyes", the end of a crane clasped onto a large canister, hoisting it from the ground. Pulling a set of levers and toggling the joystick, Cyborg sent the canister careening towards Plasmus, who whirled around at the noise only to get hit head-on and thrown onto his back. "Booyah!" Cyborg whooped as was habit, only for Plasmus' head to snap up, the corners of his lips quivering angrily. "Uh oh," Cyborg paled before leaping out of the control room with a loud- "Gyah!" -, the room behind him being melted by a torrent of acid.

"Great plan. What now?" Beast Boy asked as he ran over to where Cyborg was hiding. "The crane controls are melted."

"I'll have to interface with it _directly_," Cyborg said motioning to the circuit box on the side of the crane's grabber.

"She sounds like I'd need a safe word to date her," Beast Boy voiced. "She also looks pretty high-maintenance."

"I'll have you know that model has very _nice _servos and-" Cyborg said before shaking his head. "Am I _seriously _having _that _kind of conversation with you?!"

"I don't know, _are _you?" Beast Boy returned.

"Just distract that thing!" Cyborg said while climbing up one of the factory's support columns.

"_*Sigh* _Yeah, of course _that's _the job I get stuck with," the changeling sighed as he ran out into the open. "Hey you! Yeah you, you big pile of snot! Over here!" he whooped out making a total jackass out of himself, Plasmus screeching and running for the green changeling, who turned into a T-Rex and headbutt the monster, throwing it onto its back with his steel-hard skull before returning to human form and climbing atop some of the machinery.

A stream of acid getting sent at him, the changeling ran along the top of the machinery, mindful of his footing as he made a lot of waving motions with his arms, Cyborg dimming the lights in his armor and hiding in the shadows as best he could. Plasmus looked but did not find the other Titan, so instead chose to focus on Beast Boy. Making it to the junction the crane's grabber was hanging from, Cyborg shimmied across before tearing the circuit box's casing free, finding a compatible port with his systems which he plugged into, assuming more direct control. This time reaching down and grabbing a canister with a large **FLAMMABLE **label on the side, he lowered the grabber and hoisted it up, the changeling taking Plasmus on a merry chase, as for a few minutes it seemed to act in a less-intelligent fashion than before. Shrugging that off, he flashed his shoulder light, and getting the message, Beast Boy made for another pass around Plasmus, Cyborg over-clocking the crane's engines for more speed. Hearing the noise and turning his attention away from the green human, Plasmus turned around in time to see the canister labeled **FLAMMABLE **heading his way. The Teen Titans' cyborg then leapt off the crane, sending a rocket out of his foot and into the canister, causing an explosion which shook the factory. Thrown against the wall, Plasmus hung there for a few seconds before falling flat on his face, out cold and losing consistency.

"Awright, way to go!" Cyborg cheered.

"Easy for you to say, you weren't the _bait_," Beast Boy said popping his back.

"Don't be a sore loser greenie," Cyborg said pulling the changeling's cheek as though he were a child.

"Yeah, yeah," Beast Boy said waving his hand, but the ground beginning to shake caught them flat-footed as a fissure cut through the plant. With the ground slanting inward towards the earthen maw, Cyborg possessing the heavier frame was sent tumbling in first. Reeling his arm back and letting his hand fly on the end of an extendible cable, points from his fingertips dug into the concrete as five grooves were dug. Though their pull backwards was stopped, another fissure soon opened beneath them, and the cyborg was sent tumbling into the darkness. Beast Boy, who possessed the lighter frame, was not so quick to follow, and was about to haul himself back up if not for who was there to greet him.

"Hope you're not expecting a _goodbye _kiss," Terra said mockingly. The changeling really _did _do a poor job of hiding his interest in girls, especially from the girls he was interested _in_. He was nice, in a little brother kinda way, but the blond was already interested in someone else.

"Terra... you can't do this..." Beast Boy said with a stupefied expression as the gravity of the situation finally caught up with him.

"Watch me," Terra said with a smirk as the part of the floor Beast Boy was holding onto gave way. The blonde's eyes widened, glowing gold as the two halves of the fissure ground closed, the green human disappearing from view during freefall.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, from the shadows Raven observes as Overload's electrical frame materializes in the center of one of Jump's power plants, the two guards stationed opening fire, only for the electrical creature to magnetically absorb their weapons, prompting the two to flee. When Overload was about to turn to the device that spawned him, likely intent on drawing more energy, the mage extended her will to it, coating it with her magic before extending her influence across the entire room, coating it an abysmal shade of black. As the creature looked around, from the floor behind it Raven rose up, the shadowed form of a raven giving way to her own cloaked visage.<p>

"So, Overload, think you can handle a total blackout?" the mage questioned as she rose into the air, her cloak billowing as she gathered magic into her palms. Overload's body flared before sending its left arm at her in a stab, the mage throwing her own arms forward and generating a circular shield, which she then used to shield bash Overload in the face. Due to the nature of Overload's body, it was the most difficult for Slade to control through the Neural interface, so instead opted to put the idea into its processor that it was within its best interest to fight Raven. These ideas were complied with as Overload leapt back, its body moving around the bolts of magic that were sent its way before it dove into the floor, racing along the circuitry leading up to the wall, before appearing at the mage's side and throwing her from the air with a smack. "Azarath... Metrion..." Raven intoned as she regained her bearings, throwing an arm back and a horizontal column of magic shot out behind her. "Pistol!" she called out as the end of the column turned into a fist and was drawn forward, the momentum build up driving the fist squarely into where Overload's stomach would be, the capacity of the supernatural to influence electronics causing harm where normally none would be done. "Azarath... Metrion..." the mage began chanting as Overload was momentarily stunned, a magic column stretching out behind her, though this time it began to _twist _before forming a fist at the end. "Rifle!" she called out sending it forward, the spectral fist spinning and hitting Overload with enough force that it actually forced him into the wall's circuitry, while a sizeable dent was left at the impact's ground zero. _'A little hard to believe this is actually working so well,' _the mage thought to herself as her eyes followed the subtle trail of sparks left in Overload's wake.

As Overload emerged, the mage extended her will to the wall behind him, tracing along the metal and plaster before tearing a pipe outwards, rupturing it and sending a steam at Overload which began to drench him. As the electrical creature scurried away, Raven ruptured even _more _pipes, herding it towards the center of the room, where she opened up near a half-dozen more, completely soaking Overload from every angle and causing his body to "evaporate" with the sound of a failing computer, until there was naught left of him but the circuit-board housing a few jumping sparks.

"What is your mission?" Raven said staring down at what was left of Overload, not yet noticing the slurry that was spilling from the previously-ruptured pipes. "Why are you-" Before she could continue, a tendril of muddy water knocked her off her feet and roughly slammed her into the nearby wall, the mage drenched from head to toe.

"Hel_-lo_? Does the word "decoy" mean anything to you?" an annoyingly-familiar voice asked the mage as she shook the dizziness away, the voice's owner striding forward, the muddy water hardening into stepping stones before her footfalls. "We had to find _some _way to coax you cowards out of hiding," she said picking the circuit-board up. A spark passing from her armor and into it caused a minor reboot, the electrical entity then flew away.

"Terra," the mage growled as she got up and gathered magic to her hands.

"Raven," the geokinetic returned.

"Traitor," the mage growled with narrowed eyes.

"Witch," Terra shot back as her eye glowed gold.

"Skank," Raven growled as she flew up.

"Bimbo," the blond returned as she rode towards Raven on a muddy wave, leaping off and engaging the mage in hand-to-hand. The two exchanged a few blows before Raven caught one of the offending wrists, planting a boot in the blonde's face and sending her flying into the growing pool of mud below. Rising back up and drenched in mud, Terra's eyes began to glow fiercely as she raised herself on a geyser of slurry, dragging Raven out of the air with a flying tackle that took them down into the pit of mud. "If Ven were watching this and we had less clothing on, he'd be cheering for _me _right now," the blond prodded as she rose first before pulling the mage up by her hair, working her way beneath the mage's skin. When you could see the sings, it was pretty obvious that the mage had a thing for Vent too, with how often she let him sit beside her while others were held at arm's length. A telekinetically charged headbutt courtesy of Raven sent the blond stumbling back in turn, only for the mage's eyes to narrow when she saw the layer of mud on the girl's face had hardened like reactive armor.

'_Just like Gaara's, only with water mixed in,' _the mage thought to herself before throwing herself at the blond, hands grasping her throat as she pushed Terra's head beneath the surface, intent on drowning her. A few bubbles broke the surface, but soon a very _large _bubble began to swell beneath the mage, which burst and sent her flying halfway across the room.

"Ooh, I'm _sooo _scared, the little blue bitch was going to _drown _me, oh woe is _me_," Terra cried in a scared manner, voice laced with sarcasm as she rose from the pit of mud, rubbing the corners of her eyes for imaginary tears.

"Leaving your head on your shoulders was _clearly _a mistake," the mage growled as the blond dug further under her skin, a hand raised and a disk of dark magic spinning to life above her palm before she let it fly.

"_So _unoriginal," Terra said raising a ball of mud into the air which she began to spin, all the water being cast out leaving only a disc of earth behind which she threw on intercept. Though the mage's won it, the attack was slowed drastically, the blond casually stepping to the side with a smirk on her face. "Is that your best shot?"

"Far from it!" the mage growled as she threw her arms up, then down, a spectral leg that went on for days falling through the ceiling and driving Terra into the mud with its heel. As Raven ground her heel, the spectral leg mirrored the action, scraping the blond into the metal floor like a wad of gum. A moment later an earthen spike punched through the bottom of the foot causing it to dissipate, the blond rising up and rolling her shoulders a moment later.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you attack me just then? I was too busy remembering all the _wonderful _things Ven did to me while the rest of you were getting your asses handed to you by those _robots _to notice," the blond said with a smirk, something within the mage snapping at the way the blond dragged out that one word. Tearing the overhanging piece of equipment in the room free, the mage threw it at Terra, and for some reason the device exploded when it hit the floor. Looking around for the blond, the mage whirled around to see a column of mud rising, and from it a hand formed which delivered a wicked backhand, throwing her into the mud. "You know, Raven, I never liked you," Terra said rising from the mud as it flowed off of her.

"I never even wanted to _know _you," the mage growled as she stood up. "You may have fooled the others, but I knew you were a liar the moment you came back."

"Oh really?" Terra asked as she began pulling the mud off her frame into a sphere floating at her side. "Is that why you let me live in your house and steal all your secrets and-"

"Shut up!" Raven growled as she drove a wave of mud towards Terra, who easily parted it around her before sending tendrils of slurry from the nearby pipes at the mage. Raven in turn raised a barrier, but the tendrils coiled around the defense and struck her head-on.

"Good, Terra. You know her weakness. Exploit it," Slade said into his apprentice's ear, the blond smiling a cruel smirk as she continued to pour it on.

"You're not getting mad, are you Rae?" Terra asked floating up on a rock, the sphere of mud orbiting around her head. "Oh, better be careful. Beast Boy told me all about your temper tantrums," she said as the sphere shaped itself into the likeness of Raven bearing a furious grimace. "He really _does _have a big mouth."

"Anger is pointless. My emotions are under control," Raven spoke, though on the inside she could still feel the emotional duress she'd been placed under.

"Nyah, nyah, nyah," Terra said making flapping mouth motions with her hand, the mud head following suit, though in an over-exaggerated manner. "_Anger is pointless_, and you're calling _me _a liar?" she mocked, egging Raven on, the mage taking to the air only for a hand of mud to grasp her ankle and dump her face-first into the mud. "Come on, Raven. What stings the most?" Terra asked as she began walking down floating stones like a staircase before walking on the hardening mud. "That I tricked you? That I've nearly wiped out your team? That everyone liked me better than you?"

"Stop it!" Raven growled as her rage began to bubble upwards, meeting less and less resistance as it went.

"Or is it that deep down inside, you really believed I was your friend?" Terra said kneeling down to Raven's eye level as stone began to spread up over her frame. "Oh, and that I almost got to third base with Ven. Let's not forget that."

"**I trusted you!" **Raven suddenly growled in a fearsome tone, her eyes snapping open and glowing red with an additional pair in set of her eyebrows, her powers flaring up around her in the form of abyssal-colored flames. **"**_**We **_**trusted you! We gave you everything and you treated us like dirt!" **the demonic mage growled, growing to great heights as various objects from around the room tried to coil around or crush Terra, only for the genokinetic to hop away from each one. **"**_**Ven **_**trusted you, tried to forgive you, and you spit right in his face!"**

"You don't get to call him that!" Terra growled as she willed a pair of hands to rise up before grasping the mage's throat. More hands soon began to grab her body before pulling her downward, the mud having deepened to the point it almost overflowed into the balconies. "Who's in control _now_, bitch?!" Terra asked as Raven's eyes returned to normal, the mage realizing she had played right into the blond's hand, having only enough time for one final gasp of air before being dragged completely under.

* * *

><p>After dispatching Starfire, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Raven in that order, that only left Robin on Terra's hit list. Though Terra wanted to dispatch her ex-teammates herself, Slade instructed that she save her energy only for when she <em>had <em>to fight, and allow him to try out his new _toys. _In the end, her mentor's advice was spot-on. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Terra skirted around each and every one of Raven's attempts to inflict bodily harm to her, the control she now possessed making the feat remarkably _easy _to carry out as she worked her way beneath the mage's skin. The exhilaration she felt at seeing the mage's helpless expression came second to only _one _other encounter from her past.

Back to the adventure at hand. Terra now stood outside the above-ground portion of the power plant she'd just left, debriefing Slade on what had just occurred. With Cinderblock and Plasmus already back at base and Overload returning as well, there was only one more loose end as far as the geokinetic was concerned. Speaking of loose ends, the revving of a motorcycle reached her ears, and a familiar red bike soared into the air, its spiky-haired owner leaping towards her in a flying tackle. To the masked teen's shock, the blond leaned backward on her knees like something out of the Matrix, Robin passing mere inches over the blond's smug expression before rolling into a stop.

"Do. Not. Move," Robin growled angrily, trying to look as intimidating as he could. Due to the height difference between him and Terra, who was now a couple inches taller than him, the effort had less impact than intended.

"What's the matter gel-head?" Terra said poking a jab at Robin's _do_. "Feeling a little lonely now that your friends have... bit the dust?" she asked with a cheeky expression.

"They were your friends too," he argued, rage bubbling up inside him.

"I didn't _need _them. They were a package deal," Terra retorted.

"What did we ever do to make you hate us so much?"

"What did you _do_? I'll _tell _you what you did!" Terra asked before forcing Robin off his feet with a burst of her golden aura. "You _changed _my best friend! Manipulated his desire to belong and twisted his heart for your own purposes! You took away the only good thing life had given me and kept it for yourself! THAT'S WHAT YOU DID!" she roared angrily as rocks rose into the air around her slowly crumbling into dust. If Beast Boy were around, he'd probably make a joke about DBZ, but that was neither here nor there.

"I promised Vent I'd give you one last chance, and that was it," Robin growled as he whipped out his collapsible staff. "You're going down."

"Bring it, birdie," Terra said with a smirk as she drew out her own, expertly twirling it around herself and over her head before bringing the end down into the ground, a golden streak ripping through the earth and towards the Boy Wonder. When the ground in front of him exploded and sent rocky shrapnel at him, the Boy Wonder twirled his staff in front of himself like a propeller and deflected the majority, though a few jagged chunks managed to pass through his defense and scratch up his face, while only bruising his body beneath his costume.

"I won't let you get away with this!" Robin shouted as he dashed forward and swung his staff with all his strength, which had increased by a fair margin since a week ago. The lengthened metal in his hands was like a streak of silver as it rushed through the air and assaulted Terra's own, the resounding _***CRACK* **_of metal versus metal ringing through the air as the two fought. Sensing that Terra's skill with the staff was, while impressive for the time she'd been gone, still below his own, the Boy Wonder pressed the attack. Intent on forcing a mistake out of Terra instead of waiting for one to present itself, Robin's patience was eventually rewarded as he managed to snap her staff in half. Nailing both her hands causing her to drop her staff fragments to the ground, the Boy Wonder then unleashed all of his anger and despair in the form of a flurry of staff strikes, cracking Terra across the head, body, and arms what felt like a hundred times before leaping back, his breath coming to him in heavy gasps as fatigue toxins lined the muscle tissues in his arms. "Now... _*pant* _Turn yourself _*wheeze* _in and _*gasp* _make this easy on yourself."

"I don't think so," Terra said turning her face back to him as she strode forward, a myriad of cracks spread across her body from the relentless assault. Fine-tuned hearing catching the sound of falling sand, Robin's jaw almost fell clear out of his skull at the sight of gray-colored sand falling from the cracks in the armor Terra had formed around herself, which soon repaired itself and erased all forms of damage inflicted.

"What the... how did...?" Robin gaped as he leaned on his staff to support his weight.

"You know, if Gaara had just a _liiitle _bit of pain tolerance, the guy would've been a total _beast_," Terra chuckled as the last of her sand armor reaffixed itself to her features. In all honesty it was a little strange having sand cloak her body like that, thanks mostly to Slade, but she couldn't argue with the results. "You wanna take a Cheetos and Mountain Dew break? Reconvene in an hour?"

"Fuck! Just... fuck!" Robin swore, having spent all that energy only for the blond in front of him to be completely unharmed.

"Dude, dude, duuude..." Terra said making a "take a chill pill" motion with her hands. "Use your words, man, you're bringin' me _down_," she spoke in a hippie's accent, which only served to rile Robin up all the more. "Hey gel-head, I think you're about to have a coronary," the blond chuckled as she pointed at the bulging vein on the teen's forehead. The blond's chuckling degrading into full-blown, gut-holding laughter almost set him off the edge, but feeling his heart beating against his ribcage, he willed himself to take a step back, dropping a number of smoke bombs across the field, Terra erecting a wall of earth twenty feet high and forty feet wide in front of herself and back pedalling. "Oooh, so close," Terra hissed with a smile. Internally, she was upset that Robin was able to overcome all the momentum she'd built in grating on his last nerve as though it were cheddar cheese.

After a minute of waiting, Terra brought the wall she'd erected down, but not in the way most would expect. Instead of pulling it straight down, she sent it tumbling forward like an avalanche, the cracks in the rock allowing her to see Robin bounding around and over each obstacle that tumbled towards him like a circus acrobat. His demeanor now far more calm than before, the exploding discs he launched at her were flung forward in a single fluid motion, a number detonating against the falling rocks, while the remainder passed where her wall was and flew at her. Raising a spike of earth upwards and impaling the disk mid-flight, she was unprepared for the second disk that impacted the first one, an explosion of ice shards raining down on her, scratching her arms as she protected her head from the frozen deluge. Looking up, she saw Robin leap into a flying kick that broke through her guard and sent her tumbling backwards, but a quick handflip landed her in a dismount, a pair of rocks appearing at her feet to stop her momentum. Running forward from the impromptu starting blocks, Terra drew her glowing fist back before flinging it forward, rocks from the ground at her feet circling around her arm before encasing it in a stone gauntlet. Robin backflipped out of the way as the blond's arm fully extended, but he did not expect for the earthen fist to open into a palm, which was suddenly sent flying at him off of the arm lying underneath and caught him right in the sternum. Wresting his momentum in the same way Terra did against the remains of the wall from before, he began somersaulting forward, flinging an assortment of exploding, freezing, and adhesive discs towards the blond, who instead of being caught allowed the ground to buck her to the side and out of the way, before pulling a 180 and flying right at Robin in a kick. To her surprise, the spiky-haired teen caught her foot in mid-air and twisted it before wrestling her to the ground, pinning one of her arms behind her back and driving her face into the dirt with the other.

"Look at yourself! Is this what you really want to be?!" Robin shouted.

"That line only works when a _mirror's _around you dumbass!" Terra snapped back before her sand armor detonated off her frame, throwing Robin off her back before she righted herself, Robin growling as the sand affixed itself back onto the blonde's frame. How it re-colored itself, he could only guess.

"I don't know what Vent ever saw in anyone as weak-hearted as you," Robin growled angrily. "No wonder he left you behind."

" . . . Big mistake," Terra growled above a whisper, the ground beginning to shake. Stones bouncing into the air before a sudden tremor threw Robin off his feet, the glow surrounding Terra's body increased in volume before a veritable mountain was hauled into the skyline behind her, a glowing pair of golden eyes giving the impression of a giant bearing down upon him. A pair of massive arms raising above the mountain of rock into the sky, a monstrous bellow escaped both its and Terra's lips before they swung their arms downward into a double axe handle, one of such massive girth it could not be dodged.

And then all Robin knew was darkness.

* * *

><p>"Come on already..." Ventus growled from the top of Titans Tower, T-Comm in hand as he repeatedly hailed the others, only to receive no response in kind. "Come on guys, pick up, pick up, pick up," he said pacing nervously, having lost contact with the others only a few minutes ago. "What's taking you guys so long?" he asked anxiously, the subtle change of the tide's noise as the waters buffeted the island drawing his attention to the shoreline. Parked on the eastern shore of the island was an angular black red-accented boat, much like the one that had carried the "Chronoton Detonator", but the cargo was marginally <em>more <em>dangerous as perceived through his pocket telescope. "Shit!" the brunette swore as he moved to leap off the top and intercept, only to stop as his foot hit the lip of the roof. "Wait... That's probably what they want me to do, attack from out in the open and on _their _terms," he hummed as he watched the first to figures head towards the Tower doors, the hulking figures of two Sumo-Type Sladebots following close behind. "I've got it!" he said snapping his fingers. "And Robin said memorizing the air vents' layout was stupid," the brunette said running back into the Tower. Pulling one of the air vent grates from the wall before diving in, flying through narrow passageways before nearing one of the drops between floors. Falling downwards while letting the currents carry him, after a harrowing flight he soon dropped through the grate of the foyer, arresting his momentum with a roll before coming to a stop, right as the Tower doors began to groan inwards. "Alright, calm down Vent, nothing to worry about. You're the most-qualified to handle this, so just wrap things up and head to the others' last locations."

"You should be more worried about yourself," a voice the brunette hadn't heard in years spoke as the massive opened wide, a hail of metal throwing stars flying into the room like a horizontal deluge. His hand glowing silver, with a backhand the projectiles were all knocked off-course and into the wall, the doors now completely open courtesy of two "Sumobots" like the one Cyborg had fought. However, the two behemoths weren't his concern right now, only who they were flanking. The first to enter the room was Slade, his arms crossed confidently behind his back and armor completely repaired from their past encounter.

The second to come in was distinctively more feminine, possessing a lithe yet athletic build, around the same height as Terra if not a bit taller. Her attire consisted of a metallic blue bodysuit, over which she wore a black breastplate, gauntlets, and pants with silver trim. There was additional armor on her shoulders, forearms, hips, and knees, metal plates over the tops of her boots and galvanized rubber cleats on her feet. She had white cloth bandages wrapped around her neck, past-shoulder-length hair the color of alabaster spilling down her back out of the bandanna she wore over the upper half of her face, the left half black and with no eye, while the right was red-orange, a pair of sashes billowing in the wind behind her.

'_Ohhhh fuck all kinds of duck,' _the brunette cursed under his breath, the Sumobots remaining guard by the open doors, while Ravager stepped forward. As if to add insult to injury, Slade nonchalantly pulled up a seat and popped a squat in the room's center aisle.

"This fight has been a long time in coming," Ravager growled, narrowing her eye dangerously at the brunette that stood across from her, the strangely soothing hiss of metal from her sword's blade leaving its sheath dancing across his ears. "Now arm yourself and face me!" she said leveling her blade at him, the blade of her curved sword colored silver with a pointed gray tsuba, a black-colored ito, and an elongated gray kashira.

"With _what _exactly?" the brunette asked quizzically with a smirk, though on the inside he was beginning to panic.

"With this," Slade spoke before snapping his fingers, a single Sladebot leaping over Ravager and landing right in front of the brunette, the aerokinetic stepping back into a fighting stance, only for a brow to raise quizzically as the Sladebot dropped to one knee, head bowed as it held up a sheathed blade for him to take. The scabbard was colored black with red-orange accenting down the side, made of a mix between plastic and ceramic, a belt attached to the side. The handle comprised of a metal base with a rubber overlay and a white-colored ito, a rounded metal kashira colored on the end, a rectangular gray tsuba, and a curved blade produced with modern manufacturing techniques. As for how he knew the specs of the blade...

"You know the reason I can't touch that thing," Ventus said looking down at the curved sword as though it were a viper poised to bite.

"Come now, don't be that way. Wintergreen polished and powdered it every week since you left my tutelage," Slade spoke casually, referring to the butler that attended to the brunette's needs years prior. "He even had it engraved."

"Huh..." the brunette hummed as he took a step forward and his hand wrapped around the sheath, the weight of the blade itself lighter because he was now stronger, though the weight of what a real blade _represented_ remained the same. Upon further inspection, he saw cursive script for **Ex-Apprentice **engraved down the side of the sheath that would face away from his body once the belt was secured around his waist. _'Well... At least _someone _knows how to get it right.'_

"Hurry up," Ravager said impatiently, her own blade leveled at him. A tremendous degree of patience was being shown with how she had yet to attack him, even though it was clear she wanted to run him through and hack him to bits. "Unlike you, I will not attack an unarmed opponent."

"Pheh, _bitch._ If our positions were reversed, you would've done the same thing," the brunette spat, narrowing his own visible eye in return as he secured the curved blade to his side.

"Ah, good, this crocodile still has teeth. I was afraid you'd grown too soft after walking out on our master," Ravager smirked in return.

"Slade isn't my master. Not anymore," the brunette said drawing his blade with a hiss not unlike Ravager's own, only unlike her silver edge, his was colored pitch black, muscle memory from years of practice forcing his body into a stance rivaling Ravager's own. Slade, with a gesture of his hand, prompted one of the Sumobots to raise a heavy gong from its back, the other drawing a hammer from its side before striking it, a loud bellow ringing through the air. At the starting signal, Ravager rushed forward and attacked with an overhead slash, the brunette deflecting the slash with the side of his blade as he took a step back.

"Why do you hesitate, _Reaver_?" Ravager questioned as she assailed the brunette with slashes, his eye twitching angrily at the name she'd just called him. The one he'd once worn with pride while training under Slade. "I don't recall you hesitating when you did _this _to me," she said motioning to the left side of her face after momentarily ceasing her assault, the two of them remembering that fated day from their own perspectives. From both their point of views, it was simply another test, but more important than the rest, Slade's singular eye gazing down upon them from atop his throne. From Ravager's, she remembered fighting with everything she had, only for her stance to slip and weapon to be batted out of her hand, half the world being taken from her a moment later. From Ventus, aka _Reaver's _point of view, he remembered fighting as he had been trained to, capitalizing on his opponent's slight hiccup, before performing a downward slash, his blade stained crimson with blood.

"If I could do it over again, I wouldn't have!" the brunette growled as he once again parried the slashes being directed towards him.

"Your weak sentiment doesn't change anything!" Ravager growled aiming a thrust at the brunette's visible eye, Ventus bending his body backwards so it was parallel to the ground, before flipping back over his hands and blocking a horizontal slash aimed at his neck. "To me all you'll ever be is a weakling who couldn't even follow through."

"Heh. And to me, all _you'll _ever be is a tool for your old man," the brunette quipped in return with a wicked smirk pulling at his features, a vestige of his old personality bubbling towards the surface.

"At least _my _old man isn't in the nut-house," Ravager smirked back.

" . . . You _bitch_!" the brunette bellowed out like a person would after telling someone their outfit was dry clean-only, only to later find out it had been callously tossed into the washer _anyway_.

"Takes one to know one!"

"Go shove it up your cunt you pussy-diver!"

"That was _one time_!" Ravager screeched in embarrassment, remembering an encounter with one of her female instructors the brunette had happened to walk in upon.

'_I really should have kept a better eye on what my apprentices were doing when they weren't training,' _Slade thought to himself as he drummed his fingertips together, his ex-apprentice and one of his current apprentices trading barbs with one another as they fought, their silver and midnight-colored blades clashing in a beautiful flurry of strikes. That there were no sparks flying from their weapons was testament to how well-forged they truly were, since sparks were usually caused by abrasive portions of the metal grinding against one another, which in turn would pick away at their durability.

'_Geez, Slade's little red Rose must really want me dead!' _Ventus thought to himself as he backpedaled from the daughter of Deathstroke's strikes, more than a few of the couches being hacked to pieces as he bought himself time to come up with a strategy. As he did this, he took in his opponent's every detail, from the way she gripped her sword to what part of her foot touched the ground first, to- _'Wait... There!' _he said as he realized what sounds her footfalls were making, rising the flat of his blade to block a slash and letting himself be pushed back, placing his sword in its sheath.

"What's the matter? Has the great Reaver admitted defeat?" Ravager asked.

"No," Vent said as his eyes glowed silver. Moments later the air in front of him became distorted, and the brunette was hauled off his feet as the vacuum he willed into existence threw him forward, the bottoms of his feet softly touching the floor behind her moments later. "I have not," he said slowly sheathing his blade before ending it with a _***clink*, **_Ravager's body split at the waist and her arms separated from her body before she fell to the ground in pieces.

"Excellent show," Slade said applauding slowly. "However your current psychological profile shows you do not possess the mindset to take a life, so tell me... How did you know your opponent was only a proxy?"

"When you share a breakfast table with a cyborg every morning, you tend to learn what it sounds like when a _robot _is clonking around," the brunette said looking over his shoulder, the opponent he was facing merely a life-like robot proxy like Slade had used in the past, while the sword it wielded was likely a replica of the original. "Same applies..." the brunette said disappearing in another blur, "to you!" he said taking Slade's head clean off with another "vacuum dash", revealing a collection of CNT fibers and circuits at the neck.

"Well now, I'm quite impressed," Slade said as his robot proxy's face popped away, revealing a small screen with the man himself behind the monitor. "During training, you never once suspected when I would substitute myself for a proxy, but now you've done so twice in a row."

"I've learned more than that," the brunette said sheathing his old sword with a _***click* **_"Since I left your tutelage, I've learned all _kinds _of things you never could've taught me. And I'll _continue _to learn, more and more, until I'm no longer afraid of sharing the same world as you. Or something," he said trying to find an appropriate end to that speech, but failing miserably. His friends' radio silence weighed heavily on his mind.

"A smart plan, one I would've come up with myself," Slade said with a slight nod. "Of course I assume you intend to do so alone. Your little team is in no position to be following you on your set path."

"No position to...?" Vent said before it dawned on him.

"Goodbye, my former apprentice. If you don't survive the coming trials, I'd actually be quite disappointed in myself," Slade said before the monitor he was on went dark, his and Ravager's robot proxies then detonating leaving naught but scraps behind.

"SLADE!" Ventus roared at the scorched mark on the ground before turning to face the two Sumobots coming towards them. "Alright you king-sized hunks of scrap," the brunette growled as he ran to a wall panel, placing his hand on the scanner and inputting a set of commands. _***BREEN BREEN BREEN BREEN* **_"Let's see how you like hot plasma!" he said as the Tower's internal security measures came online, massive cannons shooting hot balls of plasma at the slower Sumobots, quickly reducing them to piles of slag. "Yeah! Suck it, robots!" the brunette whooped before his eyes widened, more of Slade's automated boats pulling up to the island, platoons of Sladebots stepping onto the island's shores. "Oh no you don't!" he said putting in another command, this time activating the Tower's _external _defenses. "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he roared as smaller plasma cannons rose from their camouflaged positions across the island, blowing the lesser troops away. The noises of blasters across the island however was cut short with several explosions, courtesy of the boat's mortars. "That's a lot of red lights," the brunette hissed looking at the schematic of the island's automated defenses, red lights going out one after the other. "I'm a sitting duck in here," the brunette said before running to the doors, intent on taking to the open skies. "I'll have to leave the Tower and regroup with the-"

However, the moment he set foot outside the Tower, his body was suddenly racked with pain, bringing him down to his knees. The world around him alternated between shades of red, white, and orange, his vision shaking as he felt like his insides were being put in a vise. Words he couldn't hear echoed into his ears as he fell onto his back, the Teen retreating back to the Tower. Remotely activating the Tower lockdown, the massive double doors closed with a loud _***THUD* **_and metal braces reinforced it from the back. All across the Tower, metal walls began coming down over all the windows, every possible entranceway now sealed off.

"What... What the fuck was that?" the brunette gasped for air, his hand going to his lip to discover there was blood dribbling out of his nose. "Nanoscopic probes like before...? No... No, that time it felt different," he wheezed as the feeling subsided, apparently connected to his orientation within the Tower. As a stinging sensation suddenly overtook his left brow, a hand pressing down on it, the familiar sparking of plasma cutters could be seen at the top of the door as they were cut from the outside, Slade's intention likely to _flood _the place with his robots. "Damn it... I've gotta get to my gear... make a stand... do something!" he cursed as he got to his feet and ran deeper into the Tower, sealing bulkheads behind him as he went to buy whatever time he could. "I hope the others aren't dead or anything, because I could _really _use their help right about now!"

**To be continued…**

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><p><strong>Disclaimer:<br>I do not own Sonic the Hedgehog (Homing Attack). I do not own One Piece (Luffy and Robin's movesets). "Skank" means "a sleazy or unpleasant person", an apt way for Raven to describe her view of Terra. The definition of "bimbo" is "an attractive but empty-headed young woman, especially one perceived as a willing sex object."  
>"Ravage" in the verb context means "to work havoc upon; do ruinous damage". Reaver, Vincent's codename while training under Slade, is derived from "Reave" which in the verb context means "carry out raids in order to plunder". To be perfectly honest, I didn't really plan on giving Vincent a codename while he was trained under Slade, but during this chapter and because I'd just finished playing through Mass Effect 2 on Insanity-Level, the codename Reaver just came to me.<br>"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" is obviously a Lord of the Rings reference, though that's all I know about the series as a whole.**

**Author's Note:  
>The end of Season 2 is coming, so I suppose now is about as good a time as any to divulge one of the primary reason for giving Terra prior history with an OC the way I did. In Teen Titans, Terra was one of my favorite characters, and all she wanted was friends that would accept her and for enough control over her powers that she could live a relatively normal life. When she confided in Beast Boy that she let Slade train her, the changeling didn't really give her <strong>_**any **_**time to explain the **_**why**_**, thus when he forsook her, that's when she turned "evil"; because she didn't have any friends left. I mean honestly, Beast Boy said those hurtful things to her in one episode, and expects her to still respond to the word "friend" positively later on? That was totally hypocritical on his part if you see the deeper context of it, thus part of the reason I wrote this story was to get rid of that.**

**Anyway, the reason I came up with the aerokinetic "Ventus" was because at the time I'd finished watching the playthrough for Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, and with Ventus, Terra, and Aqua being the main protagonists, the idea for this story simply came about. Also, to accommodate Vincent/Ventus' presence in the Teen Titans animated continuation, I changed up Ravager's character a bit, mixing some of her original iteration's backstory with the one from the Teen Titans Go! comics (the ones from before the overly-cartoony show by the same name). In the comics outside TTA, Rose Wilson aka "Ravager" carved out her own eye to emulate her father, and she had also been turned malicious by drugs and stuff. In this version, even though she was Slade's daughter, she was still always second-best to a total stranger, thus that's her motivation for not liking him.**

**As for why the fights changed so radically, Slade **_**did **_**say he had control over Cinderblock, Overload, and Plasmus, so I figured, why not put a little more focus on that? Slade by his own right is strong, but he's only human, however if you were to bypass that and give him a super-powered body, or direct control of one which really is the next-best thing, and some real damage can be done. I've been especially looking forward to writing the confrontation between Raven and Terra, what with the way I've set things up to come to a head. The reason for the cliffhanger here is the same as at the end of the Season 1 Finale chapters where Robin becomes Slade's apprentice. To increase tension until the next installment.**

**P.S.  
>In search of Ventus' voice, there were only a couple of suggestions made via Review last-chapter.<br>**Infinite Freedom **suggested Soul from the English Dub of Soul Eater for "Casual Vent". However, this voice doesn't seem to fit (too edgy), so it isn't in the rankings.  
><strong>Raidentensho **suggested that "Serious Ventus" sound like Ryuuho from s-CRY-ed, while "Adult Ventus" would be like Gene from Outlaw Star, and "Old Ventus" sounding like Kashuhito [grandpa] from Tenchi-Muyo. I've listened to a bit of Ryuuho's voice, so while it's in the rankings, I won't decide until I've listened to all the ones that work. Gene from Outlaw Star sounds a little too... "unrefined" I guess is the word, for what I imagine Ventus would sound like as an adult. Kashuhito from Tenchi-Muyo for "Old Ventus" doesn't have the right feel either.**

**I'm not sure if I'll continue this "voice search" past Aftershock, but in all likelihood I'll settle on a set of voices by the start of Season Three.**


	33. Terra Firma: Terra's Resolve PT II

**Just a little follow-up AN from last-chapter in case you missed it, and yes, as the title of this chapter implies, this is in fact an Update, not just another AN. **

**In summary, people have been complaining on XBOX Live about my GamerTag being "offensive", and thus I had to change it. If you want to Friend me, either for casual play, Live Chat, or for the chance to receive one of my Destiny Beta Codes and join my fireteam (details are last-chapter), my GamerTag is NOW "NewMystery356" (sans the quotation marks), which is what my PenName translates into English from German and Japanese. The Destiny Beta is fast-approaching, so any interested parties, please speak up; you won't receive the _chance _to be given a Code if you don't speak up after all.  
><strong>

**Anyhow, this sucker's got to be over 26,000 words long, so for your reading pleasure...**

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><p>Three days. That's all it took for Slade to accomplish what so many others had tried and failed to do in the past. Completely and utterly subjugate Jump City and everyone in it. After five sixths of the Teen Titans had been removed from the equation, Slade visibly launched a full-scale assault on Titans Tower, platoons of robot commandos pouring into the destroyed doors, while the more-specialized units took to the streets, spreading fear and anarchy. As laser blasts and explosions tore apart the Tower from the inside, law enforcement fought back with everything they had, only for surgical strikes from the Titan-turned-traitor Terra to shatter the backbone of the resistance. Somehow, there were no fatalities, broken bones being the worst case, with the uninjured allowed to carry off the wounded. By the end of the first day, Titans Tower was barely standing upon its foundation, the beacon of hope completely silent, and in the wake of that silence the denizens of Jump fell into a state of despair, upon realizing their heroes weren't coming to save them this time. Knowing that if they fought down to their last man, bullet, and bludgeon, that the citizens of Jump would be left completely defenseless, those that were left rounded the citizens together and hauled them out of Jump by the busload. By the beginning of the third day, Jump City had become completely silent, a fell wind howling against the city's spires, and mechanical footsteps echoing into the night as Slade's forces patrolled.<p>

To what end, was still unknown.

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><p>"Hey Slade. How come the Justice League isn't around?" Terra asked in the middle of her patrol, chasing any would-be looters out of the city to maintain order. With the fog below and the cloud cover overhead, visibility was quite low in some areas, so that just left more work for her. "My control may be better than ever, but I don't think I can take on a guy who can bench press an entire <em>planet<em>."

How did people know that estimation of Superman's power? Last year an asteroid the size of Texas came to the Earth, and Superman pushed it out of the way like one would a couch, that's how.

"The Justice League is always spread thin, and Batman has faith that his former apprentice will be able to keep the city safe," Slade stated. "However, they won't wait forever to act, so it's essential that we secure a foothold here in Jump before moving onto Gotham and Metropolis. The rest of the country will come in time."

"So this really _is _one of those '_take over the world_' things huh?" she asked.

"Eventually. For now, we must secure our dominion."

"Then tell me… When will I get what _I_ want?" the blond asked. She'd scoured what remained of Titans Tower at the end of the first day, and while it was filled with bodies, none of them were _human_, so the object of her affections, the very reason for doing what she had done, still lived. These suspicions were only further confirmed when squads of Slade's mechanical militia failed to return from their patrols, and while clues to the identity of their attacker were scarce, there were very few it could be.

"Soon, Terra. A bleeding heart like him will be easy to manipulate. However, it'll require precise timing, pressing each of his buttons in sequence to bring him over to our side, or rather 'yours', for all intents and purposes," the man spoke into her ear, words sweet as honey as he led her along by the nose.

"So in the end we _both _get what we want. As long as _I _get what I want… I have no problem with it," Terra said with crossed arms, trying to cast off the stubborn bit of guilt after seeing her friends for the last time. "Are you sure you can even deliver? Apart from the fact that this armor chafes," she said pulling on her chest armor, "I had to betray almost everyone I called friend up until now."

"I find it understandable that you ask," Slade said into her ear with a chuckle. "Contrary to popular belief, I know more about your little boyfriend than the Titans and you yourself put together. No matter how well he tries to hide it, he can't change the fact that I was a major influence in his development, both as a fighter and as a human being. In those rare instances where he allows my teachings to shine through the mask he wears, it only further cements that I have already shaped him in _my_ image."

"Then I'll bring this up again. Once the Justice League steps in, _how _are we going to fend them off?"

"In the days to come, contacts of mine from all over will be arriving in Jump," Slade replied. "With a veritable army on our side, the League will be quickly overwhelmed, but only once we prove our plan is possible."

"Just stay out of my way when I have what I want, and I won't have to bring your little empire crashing down around your ears," Terra said with a huff.

"Of course, my dear," Slade said cutting off the line, leaving Terra to lead her patrol.

'_Ven, wherever you're hiding, I hope you come out soon. The sound of these robot ninjas marching is starting to drive me up the _wall_!' _Terra thought to herself as the incessant _***whump-whump-whump-whump* **_of mechanical footsteps filled her ears. Passing by the Pizza Corner, her mind drifted back to the last time she was there with the others before her betrayal, where Beast Boy had eaten himself sick trying to put away more cheese pizza than Cyborg, while she and Vent sat off to the side simply enjoying one anothers' company; and their cheesy garlic bread. "Things sure have gotten quiet since the people left," Terra said as she came to a stop, a trio of Sumobots standing in vigil. " . . . _Too _quiet," she hummed as she looked around, the Sladebots up the road suddenly getting blitzed by explosives, diverting her attention. "What the-"

At the same moment in near-perfect synchronization, four things occurred. One: Ribbons of shadow flew through the air like serpents before entering the first Sumobot, sparks leaping from its eyes and joints before an expanding sphere of darkness from within caused it to come apart. Two: A pair of neon green discs sailed through the air before sawing into the second Sumobot in an X-shaped pattern, the discs detonating and blowing the mech into quarters. Three: A shadowed figure descended upon the third Sumobot before grasping its faceplate and pulling it back, a whirring cannon barrel wedging itself between its eyes before a charged shot blew its head and most of its internal components up. Four: A shadowed wolf-like visage leapt from the mist right at Terra, intent on sinking its fangs into her neck.

While there was nothing she could do about the first four, the fifth, she _could _do something about. Her senses honed from months of training under Deathstroke the Terminator, Terra was able to spin on her heel and catch the assaulting beast's muzzle with her hands at the last moment. Thrown from her platform by the weight behind the lunge, the blond quickly whirled them around with the intent of using her attacker as a landing pad. Before that could happen, her attacker suddenly shrunk into a small bird, leaving Terra on a face-first crash course with the asphalt. At the last second however, the blond was able to tuck and roll, turning her downward momentum into forward inertia, avoiding any serious injury, though not without a few scrapes and bruises for the effort.

"Apprentice, report!" Slade ordered into her ear upon notice that her heart rate suddenly spiked.

"I'm looking, alright!" Terra shouted irately as she raised her right foot, glowing gold, before slamming it into the ground. The next moment fissures spread out in all directions, causing buildings to collapse and cars to explode, four shadowed figures leaping into the open, albeit still concealed behind the fog. "Well... well..." Terra said as she clenched and unclenched her fists and inhaled through clenched teeth, "well... Looks like the super-powered playmates survived _after _all. Oh, and Robin's here too," she added at the end, causing the second-shortest of the figures to bristle. "So, hmhm, what rock were _you _guys hiding under?" she asked as she began cracking her knuckles, seemingly unfettered by the five surrounding her, back from the dead as they were.

"You're completely surrounded!" Beast Boy shouted, anger in his voice as he skipped past the banter.

"Oh, I wholeheartedly agree," Terra said with a chuckle, before raising her hand and snapping her fingers, a number of Sladebots and "Titankillers" suddenly forming up and surrounding Terra; and by extension, the Teen Titans.

"You just _had _to say that didn't you?" Cyborg growled.

"Hey now, you don't need to get so upset with him. Beasty can't _help _that he's just so darn _stupid_," Terra mocked as she wagged her finger at the five of them.

"You won't get away with this..." Raven growled, keeping her temper at bay, but only just barely.

"I already have," Terra said with a smirk as she raised a platform of rock at her feet, a hand gesture signaling the Sladebots to attack en force.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted as he rallied the others into action. A number of Razorbots lunged towards Robin with claws readied, the Boy Wonder in turn sending a number of Birdarangs at them, which exploded upon immediate contact, whether it was with their bodies or their claws. A quartet of Squidbots slithered towards Starfire before wrapping their tentacles around her, but before they could pull her down into the range of the others, the alien ascended, a spin in her motion pulling the tentacles taut until they were sent flying in all directions. As a number of Sumobots began to converge on Cyborg, his shoulders opened up before firing a number of EMP missiles into each of their chests, only for the hulking mecha to shrug the projectiles off; overclocking his Sonic Cannon through the new failsafes he installed, he fired powerful Charge Shots at each of them, compromising their armor before he fired upon their more-delicate innards. A flock of Batbots swooped down towards Raven, but the mage channeled dark energies around her hand in the shape of a boxing glove; instead of moving up to strike them however she threw a left jab into the heavens, a vertical deluge of black magic fists sent flying into the air and battering the flying bots out of the sky. In practiced motions, any Sladebot or Titankiller that got near Beast Boy had its attacks dodged, before they were promptly crushed to death by the grip of a gorilla, the constricting grip of a boa constrictor, or impaled on the end of a rhinoceros horn and sent flying overhead.

"What is the matter, blond-haired girl? Have you run out of the robots?" Starfire queried to the blond floating on a platform a ways away, whilst they were surrounded by robot corpses after the relatively-short battle.

"You know, your quip loses most of its zing when you can't even say _blondie_," Terra retorted. "Besides," she said gaining a smirk. "Now things start to get _fun_," she chuckled, the sound of footsteps, sloshing ooze, and electrified ozone meeting the Titans' ears through the fog. Moments later Cinderblock, Plasmus, and Overload leapt out of the fog above Terra, all with the intent of bringing the beat down onto the Titans.

"Titans, get ready!" Robin shouted as they all assumed battle-ready stances, albeit a bit fatigued from the battle prior. Before, the Titans had been forced to split up into pairs _–or in Raven's case a single- _when the three juggernauts attacked separate venues. While most would think that the Titans all being together _-sans one-_ would tip the scales in their favor, things were more mismatched than ever with all three setting their sights on them. Arguably, Terra was as dangerous as any one of them on her own, with how far her powers had grown.

_**KRA-HSSS! KRA-HSSS! KRA-HSSS!**_

"What?!" Slade's voice yelled over the radio as the trio of juggernauts were actually _smacked _out of the air like flies, courtesy of a neon blue bolt cutting through the air apiece. A harpoon connected to a rope suddenly embedding itself into the ground with a _***thwack* **_drew the Titan's attention, the rope growing taut as the _***whRRRR* **_of a zipline met their ears. Turning their gaze upward, a figure was seen descending the line towards them, scarf billowing behind them, and rifle responsible for the prior intervention in hand. The _***clink* **_of the gun's receiver being drawn back echoed through the stunned silence, and when a familiar red brass-tipped shell hit the ground with a low _***plink***_, another trio of shots cracked through the air as the figure became level with Terra. As electric rounds splashed against the blonde's armor staggering her back, those with eyes for that sort of thing noticed that _these _rounds were noticeably less powerful, as was evident when the final round struck Terra's chest and knocked her off the platform only, instead of sending her flying down the block like the other three. While Terra reoriented herself in mid-air, the figure disengaged the zipline and rolled to a stop in front of the Titans, the area defogging around them.

"Vent!" Beast Boy whooped as the familiar mop and tail of braided brown hair came into view, sky blue cloud-accented scarf billowing behind him as he slotted the shell out the rifle's ejection port. The teen appeared to be clad in the same gear he used when infiltrating HIVE, and when he turned to look at them with a single eye over his shoulder, the Titans saw a two-part bandana covering the lower half of the aerokinetic's face; left half red-orange, right half black. Oh, and he had a katana strapped across his back, though the mask he wore was a little disconcerting.

"Stay on your guard, the big guns are getting back up," he said in a no-nonsense tone reflected by his attire as he slotted in another cartridge, a jerk of his head and steel-eyed gaze redirecting them to the street where Cinderblock, Overload, and Plasmus were getting back to their feet. Firing off another round apiece, this time the full-sized bolts only managed to stagger them back by a few feet, as opposed to the more spectacular reaction garnered before.

"Hey, what happened?!" Beast Boy questioned.

"Gurren Lagann, episode 8. Full-powered sniper bolts from this model of rifle are able to send Gunmen flying out of mid-air, but when they're rooted to the ground-"

"Some of the energy gets discharged into the ground, of course!" Beast Boy said getting it.

"Hate to break up anime club here, but we've got a problem," Cyborg said as his cybernetic eye peered upwards, a number of Sladebots pouring out of windows and into the streets from above.

"Looks like I'll have to call reinforcements," Vent said earning confused looks from the others. "Bring the rain!" he shouted as he brought his fingers to an earpiece. The next moment, a literal rain of jagged green crystals through the fog, perforating a number of Sladebots and dropping them to the ground, while others ducked behind whatever cover they could find. The Titans' attention turning to projectiles' origin, they saw a shadowed figure leaping over the street before dropping to a crouch at Ventus' side. The shadowed figure was wearing a black hoodie, the hood up with the majority of their face concealed save a pair of glowing green eyes from behind the cowl; he also wore dark green cargo pants and black sneakers. What caught their attention however, was that the hoodie's sleeves were rolled up, revealing crystalline arms with jagged spikes jutting out of them. When one of the Sladebots got up and charged at him, with a cry he swing his left forearm forward, large green crystal spikes flying out of his arm and impaling it numerous times in the head and chest, dropping it to the ground.

"Who're you?" Beast Boy asked, only for the Sladebots behind cover to start marching forward, weapons drawn. The Titans getting into a fighting stance, were interrupted when a loud **_*BANG* _**punched through the air, and the upper body of the lead Sladebot simply... exploded. Numerous other gunshots punched through the air as well, small spiraling tunnels left in the fog as more Sladebots were gunned down. After a few moments, another figure stepped out of the smoke, ejecting the clip out of an odd-looking sniper rifle; for one, the thing had an incredibly small stock, and while the scope was still present, the barrel was surrounded by a somewhat bulky frame that made it more resemble a shotgun. The figure holding said rifle was wearing a grey hoodie with the hood up, a red and black striped scarf across their mouth with green blue-lensed goggles covering their eyes; in addition were black cargo shorts and brown boots, a number of tools hanging off their belt.

"Sumobots incoming!" Cyborg shouted as more of the larger robots began marching forward. Ventus and the two hoodie-wearing figures began firing their own projectiles, though Ventus' rifle shots only staggered them, the crystal shards barely penetrated, and the sniper rounds only slightly dented the armor. Signalling the others that they were going to move forward, the grey-hooded figure ran forward at the closest Sumobot, twirling their sniper rifle around their body. Moments later it had transformed into a large scythe, the crescent-shaped blade catching the Sumobot at the side of its head above the shoulder. A moment later the figure pulled the trigger on her transformed sniper rifle, and to the others' shock, the scythe suddenly cut the Sumobot in half, depositing the upper half onto another and dropping it onto its back. Adjusting their pose and the blade cocking back 90 degrees, the sniper fired again, their scythe cutting down the surrounding Sumobots.

"I see you made some friends while we were gone," Robin noted as the Sladebots ceased their advance, likely calculating what to do next in wake of the new development. The spiky-haired teen received no response however, the brunette staring at his palm as he tried to gather wind into it, only for the silver aura around it to flicker and die, not a single wisp of wind gathered into his palm.

"Shit," the brunette cursed, the Sladebots gathering in strength in an attempt to overwhelm them. "Wing, bring the bus around," he shouted at the grey-hooded figure, who ran off into the fog. "Jade, you get the others through the door," he said to the black-hooded figure, who began waving the Titans back. "I'll hold their advance," he said as he pulled a gray-colored handle at his waist. Pressing a button, a globe of silver energy formed around the end, and with a throw of his arm, a silver streak of hot plasma flew from the end. The tendril rolling in an arc, by the time the end came back down, it had already breached the sound barrier with a loud **_*CRACK*_**, its head taken off by the now-revealed Plasma Whip.

"Dude, where'd you even _get _that thing?" Beast Boy asked, the brunette gaining an annoyed look as the so-called bus had yet to show up.

**Flashback**

It had already been a day since the brunette had been forced to abandon Titans Tower. With the way that Sladebots were pouring in the now-destroyed front door, and Slade playing for keeps, standing his ground would've had him go the way of those that defended the Alamo. It was a hard thing to do, and even though the Titans failed to show up, thankfully he was able to get out of there with a little help. He _did _have a number of close-calls while retrieving things that he could absolutely _not _let fall into Slade's hands, but the metaphorical weight of his injuries pressing down on him proved he was still alive.

Affixing his Scouter to the left side of his face, he tapped the **ON **switch and began a long-range scan, thankful that Cy was able to translate the Saiyan language into basic English. It was amazing how quickly most of the city's population could mobilize and run for the hills -_sometimes literally_-, but that didn't change the fact that there were still some stragglers left behind, mainly those that were too scared to try and leave on their own, though there were a few that were simply _abandoned_. Most of the population was able to leave if only due to the illusion of safety in numbers, but the very fact that people wound up being left behind really ground his gears.

Rule of thumb was that an abandoned infant had a Power Level of **2**, normal teenagers had a Power Level of **5**, adults with a sedate lifestyle had a power level of **10**, while police had a Power Level of around **20**. When you throw special forces and soldiers -_current or retired_- into the mix, that's where things start to get interesting; apparently Power Levels measure physical _and _mental aptitudes, so members of the SWAT and those with prior military background could have Power Levels anywhere from **30 **all the way to **100**, though in the case of the latter we're talking Green Beret commando-level humans. Robin's Power Level measured at around **110 **while on standby, this being accredited to his acrobatic and martial arts training, though he had the potential to jump by another dozen or so depending on his state of mind, which was a deciding factor in most of DBZ's fights. Cyborg's read at around **250 **because his cybernetic enhancements allowed him to bench a city bus without really trying. As he used his body's combat-related applications like his Sonic Cannon or missile launchers, this added to the sum total of his Power Level, but since he was shown capable of exceeding his body's 100% "limit", these numbers were unreliable. Starfire on standby clocked at around **200** due to her alien physiology _-until she had learned to tone it down on the hugs, Raven had her work as the resident "White Mage" cut out for her-_, but since her Power Level was dictated by her emotional state, she could easily push to **500** since her strength rose dramatically or dropped abysmally based on her emotional state; Sunlight was also a factor, but not tremendously since she spent most of her time under some form of sunlight, even when indoors. Raven was a different case altogether; since she had to constantly meditate to keep her powers under control, on standby she clocked at a somewhat unimpressive **15**. However, given the fact that she could toss cars like children's toys, and they still had yet to see the upper limits of her powers, Vent wouldn't be surprised if her peak Power Level was over **1000**; while in DBZ there was a very _clear _distinction between Ki and Magic, both were still quantifiably measurable. In human form Beast Boy had a Power Level of around **15**, though Vent suspected that as part of the Doom Patrol it may've been higher because Mento ran a tighter ship. As a hummingbird his Power Level could drop down all the way to **1**, while as a T-Rex it could jump past **300**, but given he had yet to transform into any _alien _fauna, it was hard to determine his peak capabilities. While not too vain or anything, after measuring his _own _Power Level he saw that on standby it clocked at around **115**, though this may've been due to the higher standard Slade held his apprentices to, and some habits never went away. His own aerokinetic abilities were reliant on his emotional state, same as those for members like Starfire or Raven, but he wasn't sure if manipulating weather phenomena really counted or not. Since the basic Sladebot had a Power Level of around **50**, it was easy to see why only a small effort was required on the Titan's part to deal with them, while the average civilian ran for the hills. These customized "Titan-Killers" however, were a whole different league.

With all this in mind, when a yellow triangle-shaped cursor with the reading **20 **and the beating of wings suddenly appeared at the edge of his sight, the brunette was brought on guard and whirled around, since the Scouter could only gauge Power Levels, not ascertain a person's identity. What he saw instead surprised him; it was a giant moth like the kind Killer Moth used, only about half the size, and colored hot pink. Apparently he scared the little guy because it let out a squeal before curling up into a ball and dropping to the ground.

"Hey... hey, it's alright..." the brunette said falling to his knees, too tired to stand up. "I won't hurt you," he said softly, the ball of fur uncurling and looking up at him. Scuttling towards him, the thing placed something in his upturned hand. A silver cylinder with a note attached.

**Dear Venty,**

**I know you'll be upset that I haven't left the city yet, what with everything going on, but my daddy is still here, and I won't abandon him. I know that you'll fight long and hard to keep this city safe, just like you always do, so I thought I'd give you a helping hand.**

**Sincerely, Kitten**

" . . . Thanks, Kathryn," Vent sighed with a smile, the girlish heart-ridden handwriting proving this wasn't hastily scrawled, but that she was somewhere safe. "And thank you, little guy, for bringing this to me," the brunette said petting the football-sized moth's head, the large insect purring at his touch before flying off. Brushing the pink powder off on his hands, the brunette held the silver handle tightly before lashing out, a tendril of silver plasma streaking through the air and cracking at a distance of six feet before falling limply to the ground. "Booyah."

**Flashback End**

A moment later the sound of whirring turbines met his ears. "Finally!" he sighed in exasperation as a massive block-like shape flew around the corner, its true nature obscured by the fog. Even more-so when a pair of spotlights shone their light onto the troop of Sladebots in front of them. "Everyone in!" the brunette shouted as he waved the others towards the shape in the fog, his other hand lashing Sladebots one after the other. "Wing! Fire the High Beams!" he shouted as the Sladebots' numbers began to overwhelm him.

"High-what?" Beast Boy asked as the two spotlights began to emit a high-pitched squeal. A moment later, the lights changed from white to a baleful red as the intensity rose a hundredfold, the pavement suddenly being churned upwards, while any Sladebot caught in its wake were reduced to melted slag. "DUDE!" the changeling yelped in shock, before a hand suddenly hauled him off his feet and into the rectangular shadow, Ventus following behind soon after.

* * *

><p>"Geez, cut it a little closer why don't ya?" Vent asked as he yanked the door shut behind him, whatever they were in lurching as it moved upward, before shooting off into the distance if what was seen outside the windows was any indicator.<p>

"Thank you for saving our asses Grey-Wing," Grey-Wing sounded mimicking Vent's tone, voice oozing with sarcasm. "Oh it was no problem Ventus," she returned to herself from the drivers seat. With hood now pulled down, Grey-Wing was in fact revealed to be a she, with bright red hair cut short into a pixie cut, deep black eyes, and a silver hoop piercing in her upper right ear. "Jadework, are we being followed?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Let me check," Jadework said as he pulled down his hood, now that the others were getting comfortable. The dark hood pulled back, the first detail caught was that the green crystalline material covering his arms was also creeping up the left side of his neck, yet moved with an organic flexibility and fluidity. His hair was black and shaggy as though it had been cut short with a knife, and his green eyes were simply less intimidating without the darkness of his cowl. He also seemed to be of Asian descent with pale skin and slightly slanted eyes. Pulling down a periscope, the teen looked around before giving a thumbs up. "Looks like we're in the clear."

"Oh... my... God..." Cy was nearly rendered speechless. Nearly. "Are we flying in a tour bus!?" he gaped as he looked around.

"That it Is." You could practically hear the smile on Grey-Wing's tone as the Titans gaped at their mode of transportation. The "flying tour bus" as it were, was rather spacious on the inside. Behind the driver's seat on the forward left corner, which had a dashboard like a starship more than anything else, was a booth with with black leather seats and a white table. Across from the booth was a kitchen with all stainless steel appliances, including but not limited to a fridge, gas stove, sink, and cupboards, giving it a lived-in feel. The walls and ceiling had visible blue circuits channeling energy through the entire structure, the floor covered in a light blue rug. Towards the back on the right was an open bathroom door, revealing a standing shower and toilet, while across from it was a work station covered in tools and half-finished gadgets. At the far back of the bus was a single door, presumably leading to the sleeping quarters.

One had to wonder if Grey-Wing had Gizmo's power of defying the laws of the conservation of mass when it came to their inventions.

"Sorry, Wing, I really am," the brunette said putting a hand on her shoulder. "Its just been a very stressful three days, and we're all a little on edge."

"Yes yes." Grey-Wing sighed as the irritation left her. Ventus had the most reason to be on edge after all...

"Alright, now that that's out of the way, before our next raid I'll need you to make some more ammo," the brunette said pulling back the lever on his rifle, another empty shell leaving the chamber and clattering to the ground.

"Well if _someone _didn't eat through the ammo so quickly..." Grey-Wing sighed.

"Hey, it's not _my _fault my powers don't work anymore!" the brunette snapped back. Now that they weren't in the middle of a life-or-death struggle and the air wasn't saturated with fog, the Titans were able to ascertain some of the details missed prior. First was that while Vent's hair was still in its braid, it was frayed and lined with split ends, the mop of hair atop his head simply a mess. His attire had numerous scratches on the armor and tears in the cloth, but most-noticeable of all was that his visible eye was incredibly bloodshot, with a heavy dark bag underneath.

"Your powers are gone?!" Starfire gaped. "How did that come to be?"

"Why don't you ask _her_," the brunette said leveling a weak glare at Raven as he slumped back in one of the seats, his energy completely exhausted.

"What did _I _do?" Raven asked back.

"Oh I don't know, maybe, _this_!" he said pulling the eye patch from the left side of his face. While his eyelids were hidden behind a padding of gauze and kept shut by medical tape, what caught their attention most were the archaic runes **R~O~T~H **etched through his left eyebrow as though with a hot knife.

"Roth? What does that mean?" Beast Boy asked, while to the side Raven's shoulders locked up.

"I might not be as magically-inclined as _some _of us," the brunette said glancing sideways at Raven, "but I'm genre-savvy enough to recognize a geis when I see one."

"Don't you mean _Geass_?" Beast Boy asked, the background behind him becoming shadowed as a masked man with a bird-like sigil in his eye appeared.

" . . . No," Vent said flatly, a stare to match. "_Geass _is the term for the supernatural powers bestowed to people by "The Immortal Witch" C.C. in Ichiro Okouchi's Code Geass. _Geis _is an element from Irish mythology, referring to the magical imposition of an idiosyncratic taboo, whether of obligation or prohibition, similar to being under a vow or spell. The word _geass _probably came about from the Scottish Gaelic spelling "geas", but that's beside the point."

"So wait, Raven has you under some kind of magical contract?" Cyborg asked, getting a nod from the brunette. "How'd _that _happen?"

"It was _supposed _to be a long-term, independently-acting healing spell. _I__nstead_, it made me more compliant to the wishes of my _Mistress_, lest my brain nuke itself like a microwave burrito, INSIDE MY OWN SKULL!" the brunette ranted. Via sight gag, he and Raven were both chibi, the brunette spouting tongues of flame from his mouth.

"What are you talking about?" Raven demanded.

"Right after you shoved that magic eight ball into my head, you told me not to leave the Tower _until you got back_. Thing is you _didn't _come back, and when I tried to leave, WHAM, brick wall!" he said smacking an open hand with his fist. "And after our little _sabbatical, _it should be clear why I'm in such a state of... _distress_," he said hissing the last word out.

"Raven, what is friend Ventus referring to?" Starfire questioned.

"It's not for me to say," Raven spoke before turning her eyes back to the brunette. "But Vent, I assure you, whatever happened, it wasn't my intention to do... _that_, to you. Just give me some time. I'll grab the book I used, see what went wrong, and then I'll fix this."

"You'd better. Otherwise our friendship is _over_!" Vent said with narrowed eyes, making a slashing motion across his throat. At the moment he said that, Raven flinched, her cloak flashing gray for a brief instant, though anyone that caught it would naturally play it off as their eyes playing tricks on them.

"Alight, that's over the line!" Robin growled as he grabbed the brunette's shoulder and whirled him around.

"Like you're one to talk!" the brunette scowled as he slammed his forehead down against Robin's, forcing the shorter teen's knees to buckle as crimson orbs bored into the Boy Wonder's domino mask. "Where the hell were _you_ the last three days as Slade pulled an I, Robot and made Jump City his _bitch_?" he growled as the two butted heads.

"What does the current affairs of our home have to do with the female dog in heat?" Starfire questioned with a tilt of her head.

"Slade thought we were gone, and we waited for an opportunity to catch him unaware," Robin growled as he pushed up against the brunette's forehead, forcing himself back to full height.

"News Flash: Slade never thought you were dead in the _first_ place!" Vent growled back as he put more weight behind his headbutt. "You may've fooled Terra, but why do you think Slade still has so many "Titan-Killers" out on patrol, eh? Its because your little act didn't fool him for a second!"

"Say what!?" Cyborg gaped. "You mean we waited, and waited, all for _nothing_?!"

"Damn straight," the brunette said stepping away from Robin. "Something Slade taught me was never assume your enemy is dead until you have their head on a pike in your office. And to clarify, when he taught me that lesson he was speaking _literally_."

"So you mean we did not come to the defense of all those people for naught?" Starfire asked with a worry-filled tone.

"Pretty much hammered the nail on the head with that one." Via sight gag, a nail-shaped Robin was hammered down into a two-by-four by a mallet-wielding Ventus. "Where the hell is Raven? I want this face-tattoo off my skull _yesterday_," he growled as he irritably scratched at his face.

"Its really hard to concentrate with all your bickering," Raven spoke up from the side, meditating in mid-air with her fingers on her temples as she stared out at the window, Titans Tower visible from one of the bus' panoramic-view windows. A few seconds later, a portal opened into Raven's bedroom, and on the corner of the desk was the grimoire she'd last used, completely undisturbed. Reaching out and pulling it through, she met the gaze of a stray Sladebot patrolling the the abandoned hallway of the ruined Tower. With inhuman speed the machine lunged through the ruined doorway, claws aiming for the mage's throat. Before it could reach her however, Vent dashed through the confined space of the bus and drew his sword in a flash, severing the offending limb with an upward Iaido strike and sending the limb spiraling upward. The machine recoiling in a pre-programed response like an animal burned by flame, Raven quickly closed the portal, the others letting out a sigh of relief that the Sladebot wasn't able to give away their position. "Alright... I have it," Raven said as she confirmed it was the same book.

"It'd better be," the brunette growled as he sheathed his sword with a slow _*hsssss*_, the others still gaping at the feat he'd just performed, like something straight out of a ninja movie. "My patience is wearing _real _thin since you guys decided to play _hookey _last week, so the sooner you get this _thing _off of my face," he said jabbing his thumb at the runes cared into his brow, "the better."

"Hey, what's your problem, man? She said she was going to fix it," Cyborg said putting a hand on the brunette's shoulder, only to recoil when an inch of sharpened steel was pulled from its sheath.

"In case you didn't notice, the past few days have been a major _SHITSTORM_!" the brunette growled as he rounded on the cyborg, eyes even more bloodshot than before as he jabbed a finger in the cyborg's face. "I find out Slade's antichrist of a daughter is in town, I almost get killed inside my own home because my own friend tagged and _collared _me," Raven flinched at those words, "and the guy I trusted to keep you all safe while I'm not around was dumb enough to think Slade would let his guard down on the _assumption _that you were all out of the picture! What the _fuck _do you think this is? **A SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON!?**"

"Hey Vent... I think your rage broke," Grey couldn't help but comment the moment a blood vessel burst in the brunette's visible eye, causing the others to visibly winch and recoil in horror as a trail of blood trailed down his cheek from his now-completely blood-colored orb.

"Ventus, now that the others are back, I think you should go rest now," Jadework spoke politely in a placating manner as he slowly turned the brunette around and guided him to the back.

"N... No..." the brunette gurgled as his right eye twitched. "Still so much to... do... _blurgh..._"

"You've barely slept in three days. Wing and I will take watch while you recuperate, and have the others briefed before you're up. For the time being, you really need to rest," the Japanese teen said as he guided the brunette to the back room. Lying him down on the large water bed after wiping the blood from his face, the ninja tiptoed from the room before quietly closing the door behind him. A moment later, a loud snoring issued from behind the wall, showing that the brunette had in fact fallen asleep.

"Note to self: Install better soundproofing," Grey-Wing muttered into her handheld recorder. "_Seriously_, install better soundproofing, this guy snores like gravel in a lawnmower."

"So... How did you dudes meet?" BB asked trying to break the awkward, snore-filled silence as the Titans got over the brunette's "episode".

"It is a long and awesome story, spanning a thousand-"

"It only happened a few days ago." Jadework cut Grey-Wing off.

"Fine. A few days ago we found the magical stone of-"

"And there wasn't a stone..."

"...You won't let me have fun with this will you?" Grey-Wing sighed as she put in the final settings on her console, the word **AUTOPILOT: ON **blinking on the screen.

"Please get to the point..." Robin cut in, having had enough of the straight man comedy.

"Ah, we all met a few days ago, I was planning on leaving the city when the robots started showing up," Jadework started, tugging on his hood slightly. "Naturally I wanted to get out of here before... well, the shit hit the fan."

"But I showed up," Grey-Wing took over hopping out of the pilot's seat. "I had already scouted what most of the robots were doing. And noticed that they were heading to your Tower," she said jabbing a thumb at the visible structure out the left-side window. "I knew I had to do something, so I convinced Jadey to help me defend the Alamo as Ventus called it when he did one of those cool war scenes..."

**"As your friend has alluded to prior, he had to do so without the use of his aerokinetic abilities," **a familiar voice spoke up, before its accompanying avatar appeared from a projector in the ceiling. **"The cause of which has now been extrapolated, so I no longer need to divert processing power to solving this quandary."**

"Hey Slim, haven't heard from you in a while," Beast Boy said to the handlebar mustache-toting AI hologram.

"Wait, why aren't you in the Tower?" Cyborg said asking the obvious.

**"Ventus retrieved my Blue Box from the Danger Room before the Tower was overrun. As my processing power is rather _significant_, logically he could not risk me falling into Slade's hands for reverse-engineering and/or re-purposing."  
><strong>

"What happened to the Tower while we were gone?" Robin asked.

**"Before I was disconnected, most of the preventive measures had been already destroyed," **Dr. Slim answered. **"By my estimates, it will take several weeks of work to restore the Tower to minimal base functionality. Something that is not achievable while Slade's presence is still that strong in Jump."**

"Anyway," Grey-Wing said cutting through the doom-and-gloom of the Titans finding out that their home got waylaid while they were gone. "The G-Comet is on autopilot and nothing is following us, so we should be safe for a while," she said stretching her muscles, before hanging her hoodie on one of the nearby hooks_. _Beneath it she was wearing a simple black tank top with grey tribal wings on the back. "Help yourselves to some food and take a load off. We can't make another move against Slade until the heat dies down a bit."

* * *

><p>Grey-Wing was completely focused on her work, her rifle in hand as she sat at her work table, while her patented 'mini manufacturers' currently making Vent's ammo. Now that the Titans were back, it was likely they were going to make one final push, so she needed everyone's equipment to be up to snuff.<p>

"Yo..." Cyborg's voice made her jump, turning slightly to see the part metal teen standing next to her chair. At the moment he had a thick cord running from the center of his chest to one of the G-Comet's more-powerful outlets, still recharging his batteries after she'd set him up before going to work. "Couldn't help but notice you have some tech savvy, pretty lady," he said with a wide smile, making Grey-Wing blink... and then turn pink slightly.

"Uh yeah..." Grey-Wing coughed to get rid of the pink in her face, caught off guard by the reaction. "My power heightened my mental capacity and intelligence, essentially giving me the processing power of a supercomputer," she said before adopting a contemplative pose. "It also boosted my reflexes and shortened my reaction time, and instead of using only _part _of my brain, I use all of it."

"Wow..." Cy gave out an impressed whistle. "So if you don't mind me asking, how'd you get your power?..." He then trailed off as he noticed the conflicted look on her face. "If ya don't wanna tell me-"

"No it's fine," Grey-Wing waved off. "Did you know..." she started with a sigh, "I used to be filthy stinking rich?" At Cyborg's raised eyebrow- "Yep, one of the richest out there. But..." she said rubbing the bridge of her nose. "I was treated closer to a doll than a person, told what to do with every step of my life, every minute of every day, and deep down, I hated it. I was rolling in dough, but for all my money, there was one thing I could never have."

" . . . Freedom?"

"Yep, and that's where _this _baby comes in," she said tapping her temple. "One day I find out I could solve any problem, calculate any equation, even extrapolate where and how people will move and react. So, I use it to plan my big escape, dye and cut my hair, and used this big brain of mine to stay on the lamb ever since," she said with a chuckle.

"...The G-Comet?" Cy asked, grinning when the girl lit up.

"Yep. She's my baby. I'll give you the grand tour after we kick Slade's ass." Grey-Wing grinned back.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere, Jadework was currently focusing his attention on the screens depicting their surroundings. Nothing was following them, and no bugs had been planted before their departure, which was good. Robin had taken to watching through the windows for anything the G-Comet's electronic eyes missed, while Raven sat to the side in the booth looking over the spell she had used on Ventus prior.<p>

"Hey green bud." Jadework sweat dropped at the name as he turned to look at a grinning Beast Boy... who was a little too close for comfort.

"Eh... please don't call me that. And personal space, please..." Jadework sounded politely, if a bit tensely as he leaned back. The chanegling's breath left much to be desired...and in American terms, absolutely rank.

"So, you have stone skin?" BB continued as he took a step back. Giving the crystal teen some space, he wondered if it was the same as Diamond Head or Chromastone from Ben 10: Ultimate Alien.

"_Crystal_ skin..." Jadework corrected. "And no, before you ask, I cannot turn it off," he snapped slightly, Beast Boy's ears drooping slightly.

"Oh...uh..." BB sounded. Wow he might've hit a nerve there. "Well, uh...I didn't always use to be green so...at least it's a cool color? Could be worse."

Jadework stared at him for a moment before sighing as he turned back to the screens. He supposed it could be far worse then it is now. Still didn't mean he had to like it.

"So... are you a ninja? Do you know any?" Beast boy asked excitedly.

"...Your asking that because I'm Japanese aren't you?"

"Uhh..."

"Firstly, no I am not a ninja. I supposed I was one in training though," Jadework mused as he stared off, tapping his fingers slightly on his arm. "In my village... it was rather small, cut off from the world due to the mountains surrounding it. So we didn't have most... or any technology at all. So ninjas were still used there."

"Cooool." Score for BB he knew ninjas were still out there!

"...My brother Reji, he was a ninja before me..." Jadework continued in a quite tone. "He... would still be here if not for this." He lifted up a crystal hand and clenched it. "I had foolishly disobeyed my sensei and went into the forbidden shrine when I couldn't get a technique right and it frustrated me... Reji went in after me. There was... a kind of glowing green crystal there... it seemed to have grown into the Buddha statue or became it..." He then fisted his hair. "I...killed my own brother... I touched something that I shouldn't have and now he's gone. And this is my penance."

"Oh, uh, wow, I'm... so sorry," the changeling returned. Obviously this struck more of a nerve than the crystal skin thing.

"I do not need your pity." It was obvious Jadework was looking beyond the screens at his own memories. "For it is not you who needs to apologize."

* * *

><p>As the others rested and recuperated, either letting the tension from days past leave their bodies, or filling their empty stomachs from their time in hiding, Raven poured over the text that most-directly led to Ventus' present condition. The biggest clue for what caused the brunette to lose his powers, likely lied in the fact that he lost his powers in the <em>first<em> place. Similar to Starfire who drew from different parts of the emotional spectrum to fuel her tremendous power, the hubris of Ventus' abilities lay in his sense of freedom, both literal and metaphorical, tangible or perceived. While his powers were at their strongest in the outdoors where he could see the sky above and the horizon in the distance, it was only in enclosed spaces where he felt _truly _confined -_like the interior of an underground tunnel_- that his control over the wind showed signs of diminishing.

"There has to be _some _logical explanation, some tangible reason this could've happened," Raven muttered to herself as she poured over the same middle section of the text again and again, in case any one part of the grimoire directly influenced the part she had used. Turning the page over again, that was when she felt it. A small fraying at one of the page's corners. However it wasn't from a single page splitting into two.

It was of two pages stuck together.

_'How did I not see this!?' _Raven growled to herself as she slammed her fist on the table, her action going unnoticed since she was able to reign in her emotions before something exploded or melted. _'I used the beginning of a Healing spell, with the ending of a Familiar Binding spell, and together the hybrid result was that of an Enslavement curse.' "No wonder he couldn't leave the Tower..." _she muttered to herself. _"He_ literally _could not leave,_" she sighed as she rubbed her face, only now realizing the severity of her mistake. "How could I have been so foolish?" the mage groaned as she let her forehead hit the table, realizing that what had occurred was because she had made an amateur mistake.

"Friend Raven, are you alright?" Starfire asked sitting next to her friend. "Do you wish to partake in the balls of cheese or the diet of cola?"

"No, Star, I don't," Raven sighed, though the dryness pulling at her throat told her she would require at least a cup of tea later.

"Have you found out what is ailing our friend?" she asked motioning to the back of the bus, where Ventus' loud snoring had transitioned into a more calm breathing.

"Yes, I have," Raven replied as she got up from her seat, heading toward the back before Starfire could ask what it was. Not even bothering with the door, the mage created a portal which she floated through. Inside was Ventus sprawled out on the bed, the bags beneath his eyes still prominent, but noticeably better than before. _"Vent..."_ Raven sighed sighed as she cupped his face with her hand, wiping away the traces of blood with her thumb. _"I am so... so sorry for what I did. I only hope you can forgive me someday,"_ she choked back a sob. Though she acted distant from most everyone, from the very beginning the brunette held a special place inside her heart, even if at the time she didn't know it, and the thought of losing that connection, with someone that accepted her simply _because_, tore the mage up inside.

"Terra..." the brunette murmured in his sleep, grasping the mage's hand as he leaned into her touch. "I'll come back for you... I promise... promise... promise..." he trailed on subconsciously. It was at this very moment, that Raven finally realized the depth of the connection that Ventus and Terra had shared, despite the opposing nature of their powers. The two had gained places in each others hearts years before any of them even knew him, so in a way, Terra's words of the Titans changing him were true. Under any other circumstance he _would've _gone with her, but the life of luxury, but most of all _camaraderie_, that the Tower afforded had changed him on some level. Made him more selfish than he had first been at their meeting. An abundance of materialistic possessions tended to do that to you.

"Terra...!" Raven growled, but shook her head before her rage could overtake her. On some level, all she wanted was to tear the blond girl limb from limb, but she knew if she did, if she gave into her anger, that the young man holding her hand would never again call her "friend". "If we do get you away from Slade, you'd better take care of him," Raven said to herself more than anyone else. Any kind of relationship with Ventus that she herself had was only bound to end in heartbreak, the passing of each day a reminder of what was to come.

Taking a deep breath to clear her mind, focusing on the task at hand, she pressed her forehead to his as her eyes snapped open white, and she entered the brunette's psyche. While a voice in her head compelled her to dig deeper, see what made the brunette tick, the mage chose to ignore the compulsion, instead delving toward the purpose for her intrusion; the runes she had place upon him half a week prior. The darkness peeling away, the mage soon came upon a room awash the color white, so much so that it was almost blinding, though she fought the urge to turn away. Looking around, she found the objective she was looking for; Ventus' mental representation of himself, as was tied to the Geis carved into his brow. Said representation was sitting on a white-washed throne, shackles with chains binding his wrists and ankles to it, while a cloak much like her own was draped over him, the cowl of which completely obscured his features from sight. All that could be seen aside from the contours of his chin, were the glowing runes **R~O~T~H **etched into his brow.

"What might I do for you today, my mistress?" the brunette suddenly spoke at her approach. However, this wasn't the same jovial voice as before, the one that would laugh and joke with the others, but one completely devoid of emotion. Devoid of free will, through the forced subjugation she had inadvertently subjected him to.

"Vent, stop," Raven said shaking her head as she got down on her knees, and coating the first shackle in darkness, tore it in two, the **H** on his brow dimming.

"Have I done something to displease you, my mistress?" he asked in that same monotone, showing that for all intents and purposes, as long as the runes were there, that Ventus' free will was not his own.

"Stop calling me that," Raven said as she tore the next shackle in two, the **T **disappearing from sight.

"Tell me how I've slighted you and I will change, my mistress," the brunette spoke again, showing just how deeply the runes were able to influence him, should she have given him another command that the runes recognized as such.

"Stop it, this isn't you!" Raven cried as she tore the shackle from his wrist free, the **O **vanishing from his cowl.

"Am I not a worthy servant, my mistress?"

"ENOUGH!" Raven cried as she tore the last shackle free, the **R **now vanishing, the brunette's head tipping forward. "You're free now, and your will is your own," Raven said lifting the blue cloak off his body, the final vestige of control she held over him now removed. As the mage left her friend's mind, blue cloak folded over her arm, she failed to notice the now-evil glint shining in the his eyes. Were she to just turn around, even for an instant, the predatory smirk pulling at his face would've caused her to take actions that, in the long run, would've saved them all a lot of grief.

Of course, hindsight was always 20/20. But only because it had already happened.

* * *

><p>"Slade! It's time we had <em>words<em>!" Terra growled as she stomped into the mercenary's underground lair.

"Apprentice," Slade said plainly, his arms crossed behind his back as he looked over numerous security feeds from cameras across the city. "What can I do for you?"

"Cut the crap, Slade!" the blonde growled, the room rumbling slightly. "You said you could give Ven back to me, but now he's even more distant than ever! Not just that, why didn't you tell me the Titans were still alive?"

"I had my suspicions, but not enough evidence to make them worth mentioning," the man lied smoothly. The fact that no bodies were ever recovered, meant the possibility they survived existed. He _was _speaking quite literally when he told his ex-apprentice that the only time you should believe someone to be dead, is when their head is on a pike in your office.

"That's it, we're done here!" Terra stomped angrily. "I'm sick of fighting, sick of the robots, sick of _you_, and sick of this stupid _outfit_!" she growled as she started stomping out. "Only reason I'm not taking it off _now _is because my other change of clothes aren't here. Good _day_!"

"Even if you left, you'd find that quite impossible," Slade spoke nonchalantly, something in his tone causing Terra to panic. Against her better judgment, she attempted to disrobe in the middle of the room, and to her horror, the armored component's refused to budge from her frame. "The suit's neural interface has integrated into your nervous system. Into your skin. It is now a part of you," he said as he brought his hand up to the controller on his gauntlet. "As am I."

"No!" Terra growled as she pulled a cluster of stalactites from the ceiling and sent them down on Slade like rain. Before they could reach him however, the man pressed a button on his controller, and just as quickly as they had been dislodged, the stalactites stopped in mid-air, mere inches away from Slade's body. "What...?" Terra gaped as she tried to force the stone spikes forward, only to find that her entire body had locked up.

"I told you, Terra. The suit and myself are both a part of you," he said waving his hand to the side, and using Terra's geokinesis, tossed the earthen projectiles to the side. "I believe I've trained you well enough to see what this means for your _friend_," he then went on to say, the gears in Terra's head turning furiously before a horrified expression spread across her face. "Looks like the last horse finally crossed the finish line," Slade said as he read the girl's thoughts by the expression on her face. "Still, I'm in a giving mood. If you don't cause too much trouble, I might let you have your friend back as a servant. Or a _pet_. Whichever you prefer, I honestly don't care one way or the other."

"**SLAAAAADE**!" Terra shrieked as her body flared with a golden aura, the room shaking around them as she tried to destroy the man in front of her, only for his will to surmount her own and cause the room to once again become still.

"And... Mute Button," Slade said tapping another button on his gauntlet, the blond now rendered silent as her voice refused to utter a sound. "Now then, my _former _apprentice," Slade said as he made his way over to his throne. "Your move," he said plainly as he interlaced his fingers, the blond under his control continuing to squirm. An exercise in futility if ever there was one.

* * *

><p>Back at the G-Comet a number of hours later, all aboard were fed and well-rested. Having to wait three days and do nothing while Slade had his way with the city had put a LOT of knots in the Titan's shoulders <em>-in the case of Cyborg, his servos were wound up beyond safe operating parameters-<em>, so they needed to unwind. As much as Robin wanted to assault Slade's position immediately, his authority wasn't recognized due to a number of factors.

One: The Titans were emotionally exhausted after watching their city get bent over backwards and "caught in the Alps", and needed to unwind with some holographic video games and some "food of comfort" in Starfire's words. Two: Their residential expert on Deathstroke the Terminator had just had a psychological breakdown and needed his rest after busting a blood vessel in his remaining good eye. Also, he needed a magical shock collar removed from his face, which was also time-consuming. Three: Grey-Wing was the one driving the bus, and she didn't recognize Robin's authority to tell her what she could do with her baby. Especially since _he _decided to have 5/6ths of the Teen Titans play dead while Slade had his way with the city and got them in that mess in the first place. Four: Ventus was now in possession of a samurai sword and you do _not _want to cross a guy like that. Especially when he's been nothing but pissed for half a week and had a lot of emotional baggage shoved in his face.

Now that everyone was well-rested however, they could get back to business as usual. At the moment they were all standing in the middle of the G-Comet, the craft itself on autopilot over the residential district, where Slade's forces were at their absolute thinnest. One of the wall's side panels moved away to reveal a holographic projector, the lights dimming as a blue wireframe of Jump City and the surrounding area materialized. Standing counterclockwise from in front of the booth's table was Ventus, Grey-Wing, Cyborg, Beast Boy, Robin, Starfire, Raven, and lastly Jadework.

"Alright everybody," the brunette said as he inhaled deeply through his nose, before exhaling heavily. "We're all fed and rested. I've got my free will back," he said as he twirled a wispy halo of wind around his finger, "and after sleeping on it and re-evaluating our combat strength, I've come up with a plan that _should _allow us to force Slade out of town, assuming we are not able to apprehend him."

"Wait a minute, who died and made _you _leader?" Robin asked.

"_You _did, remember?" Vent asked, a hint of snark in his tone. "And if that isn't enough of a reason to assume leadership in this op, let me go on to make the following points. None of you had boots on the ground for the last half-week. _We _did," he said motioning to Grey-Wing and Jadework who were standing to his left and right respectively. "None of you scouted out enemy outposts and prodded their defensive lines to test their response time and run estimates of their numbers. _We _did. None of you were in this city for the last half-week while Slade had his way with this place. _We _were." At that there was a pungent pause that filled the bus, since all of the brunette's points were completely true. " . . . Also, I was the one who won out in that Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 tournament at the start of our superhero careers when we were still bickering over leadership rights, so... I win."

"Now wait just a minute-" Robin was about to say, only for the brunette standing across from him to taze him with one of the Gordanian's alien spears.

"Since there appear to be no more objections, lets get this little pow-wow on the road. Dr. Slim, please display all known enemy fortifications and estimated grouping concentrations." With that, dozens of red-orange dots began blinking into existence all across the map. The numbers around the bridge that connected Jump's furthest ends were the smallest, while the majority was concentrated in the center of the city which had barely any blue left. "Alright, here's what we've been able to gleam of Slade's plot thus far. While our primary directive," he said pulling up a holographic keyboard, typing up a few keys and causing a revolving copy of Slade's insignia within a circle to appear in the most dense cluster of Sladebots on the map, "was establishing militant rule over the city, he has been simultaneously pushing the citizens out with intimidation tactics. Of course when you've got an army of killer robots at your beck and call and there's no hero backup in sight, that isn't really all that hard."

"What about civilian casualties?" Robin asked.

"No hero backup in sight, isn't really all that hard," Vent said repeating the latter parts of his last speech. "Slade didn't need to fire a single shot because everyone was too busy running for their lives, given there was no hero backup. For three days," he said narrowing his eyes slightly at everyone in the room, who fidgeted nervously for being talked into that plan. "Anyway, based on troop movements and concentrations, we believe that his objective might be _this_," he said pointing at a massive satellite complex at the edge of the city. "Jump City's communication hub."

"Of course we have no way of being completely sure since we were so short-handed and still had to help civilians out of the city," Jadework said crossing his arms.

"Worst-case scenario is that he infects the transmitter coil with a virus causing a worldwide techno-apocalypse," Grey-Wing added.

"Of course Slade has pulled red-herrings in the past, so what he's doing this for may be for a completely different reason entirely," Vent summarized.

"Friend Ventus, if not the hub of communications, then for what reason is Slade doing all this?" Starfire asked.

"Yeah, you know the guy better than anyone," Cyborg added, Beast Boy groaning and rubbing the bridge of his nose in the background.

"Knew. I _knew _Slade better than anyone. As in the _past tense_! As in, I haven't talked with him in _years _and don't know jack_ SHIT_!" the brunette returned irately, volume gradually raising. Inhaling through his nose, the brunette regained his composure before continuing. "Anyway, aside from Cinderblock, Overload, and Plasmus, the maximum security prison has remained mostly untouched, and based on how he's pushed the local population out of the city, its safe to assume he doesn't want any unaccounted-for variables interfering with his plan. _Whatever _that is."

"So where's Slade right now?" Beast Boy questioned.

"We believe he's down _here_, in a re-purposed World War Two bunker beneath the city's center," Grey-Wing said as the map raised to above-eye-level, an underground complex becoming highlighted.

"Main reason we couldn't mount an assault before was because we lacked sufficient combat strength," Jadework chimed in. "I've tried every trick in the book during my scouting runs, but this place has zero blind spots to exploit. Any prior attempt with our then-current numbers would've been tantamount to a suicide run."

"The majority of the "Titan-Killers" are centered around the above-ground location for Slade's base, so we can't simply burn through them like copy paper like when Slade had his cookie-cutter robot commandos," Vent went on to say. "Assuming that their assault on Titans Tower when Terra... defected, was a trial run, then its likely any exploitable weak points have been at least _tailored to_, if not completely patched up. And this won't be one-on-one in our home turf, they'll have been dug in for days and completely familiar with the topography."

"So then how do we stop them?" Starfire questioned.

"Give me a few hours and the right materials, and I could rig up an EMP pulse that'll take 'em out," Cyborg suggested.

"Won't work," Grey-Wing said shaking her head. "After some of our smaller raids to probe their defenses, we were able to salvage a few parts that didn't pose the risk of self-activating, and have been able to determine that for this campaign, Slade had his robot army EMP shielded."

"Then how do we stop those things?" Beast Boy asked, thinking back to the time he'd turned into an anteater only for one of those things to step on his tongue. Couldn't talk straight for a week after that one once the swelling set in.

"Here," Jadework said manipulating the map towards the outskirts of Jump, away from the communications hub and the maximum security prison.

"That is-"

"Where Slade's forces last attacked while Terra was still a part of your team, and where he likely acquired the data off of you that allowed him to make the Titan-Killers he sent after you later on," Grey-Wing said finishing Starfire's sentence, now manipulating the map to show the science lab on the outside of the city in greater detail. "We've been able to determine that the control signal for the Sladebots is coming from there, and while the numbers surrounding it aren't as concentrated as in the city," she said causing a myriad of red-orange dots to appear, "the numbers are still substantial. SWAT teams went in to try and apprehend Ravager, who previous recon has confirmed to be overseeing the signal disperser, and they were torn to shreds."

"However, because she was not ordered to pursue when they retreated, they were able to get all of their own out without a man left behind," Jadework ended on a positive note.

"Who is this Ravager of which you speak?" Starfire asked.

"I briefed Beast Boy once before on that before all this, and only vaguely alluded to her during my little hissy fit," Vent answered. "But for your sakes, I'll simplify it. Ravager is Slade' daughter, as in by-blood, raised and trained by him since childhood. The only thing keeping her from being as dangerous as him is the lack of real-world experience in comparison to her old man, but give that a few years and that's bound to change. The fact that Slade is having _her _guarding the Control Emitter shows the very _real _tactical value of this resource."**  
><strong>

"Well then what're we waiting for? The gang's back together, so lets go and kick some Deathstroke Jr. butt and shut down all those robots," Cyborg said enthusiastically.

"Its not that simple," Jadework cut in. "We go after one of them, reinforcements from the other can be mobilized in seconds and cut off all escape routes, completely pinning us in."

"The only chance we have of succeeding is to attack both bases within minutes of one another, keeping their attention divided as much as possible until the Control Emitter can be shut down. Without it, the Sladebots and Titan-Killers will no longer be networked to one another, and they'll lose tremendous combat strength without their ability to coordinate their movements," Vent explained. "However, this still leaves one issue that requires our attention," he said pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, the holographic map causing the map of Jump City to dip down a bit, before dozens of red-orange dots appeared circling the city overhead. "Slade has absolute air superiority over the city. No matter what configuration we set the teams to be with our present numbers, whether its one of our fliers up there or all of them, this fact will not change. Any attempt at a dogfight without significantly distracting the ground forces will result in whoever goes up there getting shot down from the ground."

"So in summary, even if we stretch the eight of us to the breaking point, we can't possibly handle the numbers and tech stacked against us," Robin stated.

**"If I may interject, I believe I have a solution to your conundrum,"** Dr. Slim spoke up. **"Give me the bus."**

"Are you insane!?" Beast Boy cried as he slammed his palms onto the table. Or rather _would have _if there'd been a table there in the _first place_. His attempt at being dramatic sent him tumbling through the holographic map and onto the floor in a heap. "This is exactly how every post-apocalyptic movie involving robots starts out!" he said getting back up, an **X**-shaped bandage on his forehead. "First we plug the Overlord into a bus, then it's dropping nuclear missiles on all our heads, and then we've got an unstoppable Arnold Schwarzenegger coming into the past with laser guns and saying "_fuck you asshole_" at a gas station!" he said saying the latter quote in a poor imitation of said actor and California governor.

" . . . Beast Boy," Vent said as the changeling hyperventilated. "This is a flying tour bus. Not a government computer connected to military nuclear launch silos and completely uninhibited access to the launch codes for the content of said silos."

"B's right that this could turn out badly, giving an AI a body outside its Blue Box," Cyborg said crossing his arms. "But we don't have a lot of options here. The Justice League is apparently too busy to help us deal with a robot invasion so we're on our own here."

"He is right," Starfire added. "The daughter of Slade is protecting the switch of killing for all of the evil robots in our city, and his most powerful forces are guarding his own base of operations. We need as much room of the elbows as we can acquire."

"Yeah, besides, we could always put a big-ass _bomb _or something in here if Slim acted up," Cyborg said jabbing a thumb at the AI's avatar.

"How dare you even think of blowing up my baby!" Grey-win growled, a tick mark firming in her head as she grabbed Cyborg's chest and brought him down eye, to evil eye. "Suggest it again, better yet even think that again and I'll test the angel arm I remade from trigun. On you!"

"Back onto the topic at hand," Vent said turning his attention back to the map, Grey-Wing attempting to pull Cyborg's lower lip over his head in the background. "The _mini-bosses _for this campaign, Cinderblock, Overload, Plasmus, and... Terra," he said regretfully. "We no longer have eyes on their current positions. Back when Slade was waiting for you all to come out, they were all centralized around the above-ground location of his base. Now that he knows you're onto him, he's bound to have made some changes to his formations. We won't have to worry about the Sladebots and Titan-Killers' locations being changed because he won't fix what isn't broken, but the mini-bosses are total wildcards."

"Then what do we do?" Raven asked.

" . . . We hope that I don't make the wrong choices for team placements in the next few minutes," Vent sighed running his fingers through his hair. "Alpha Team, it'll be your job to kill the Control Emitter. You can't simply destroy it, otherwise the device will transmit its faculties to any number of potential off-site locations. This may cause the Sladebots to lose _some _combat strength, but not enough that we'll be able to turn the tide completely in our favor. You'll have to kill the software and hardware _on-site_, and for that you'll need a tech expert."

"You've got your tech guy right here," Cyborg answered, Grey-Wing having now calmed down enough to act rational.

"I'm sorry, but we're going to need our heavy-hitters for assaulting Slade's location, because that's likely where two out of the three Mini-Bosses are going to be," Vent interjected. "Grey-Wing, you're on tech-duty, don't let me down." The tech-savvy girl gave him a salute in response. "Robin, Jadework, encountering Ravager is a one-hundred percent guarantee on this one, Slade won't trust any kind of robot, no matter how advanced, to guard such a valuable resource. Fight her with the intent to kill, or you _will _lose."

"I might be taking orders from you, but I will _not _kill for you," Robin spat back.

"I might," Jadework said off-handedly, causing Robin to scowl at him.

"Trust me, if her robot proxy was any indication of her fighting skills, you couldn't kill her even if you _did _try. _You pansy," _he muttered under his breath. "It's the _trying _that'll keep you from getting a "Game Over" five seconds in," Vent replied with a wave of his hand. "Beta Team, we're the heavy-hitters, and its our job to attract as much attention to ourselves as possible from ground forces. Beast Boy, Cyborg, Starfire, the three of you are with me. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your paths, or you _will _die. Blown-up city blocks can be rebuilt, but _only _if we stop Slade here and now."

"What about me?" Raven asked.

"Raven, you'll be with Dr. Slim in G-Comet as Team Gamma dealing with Slade's Batbots," he answered. "You're to stay as far away from ground level as much as physically possible, because we can't afford to have any of them breaking away from you and onto the other Teams. After analyzing some of their programming, we've been able to determine that when faced with an aerial threat, they will sooner deal with it than run away, because their backs are a major blindspot, and they're lightly-armored to begin with, so they won't risk exposing their weaker halves."

"There won't be a lot for me to manipulate in the open air," Raven responded. She wasn't arguing, she was simply stating a fact.

"I'll need you to be creative on that one. If you try to make a sweep for something on ground-level to hit them with, the Batbots could break away, or whatever is fast enough to catch you will attack the bus. We lose one person out there, the rest _will _follow, understand me?" he asked, the mage nodding her head in turn. "Alright, we all know our roles, so here's how our shakedown run will go. The G-Comet will drop Alpha Team off at the science lab, before shooting into the city and dropping of Beta Team off at the edge of the enemy's encirclement, after which it'll punch a hole into the sky and begin the battle for aerial superiority over Jump. This is the best shot we have because we've shaken things up, but we can't wait for them to trench themselves back in after the hit they took before, so we mobilize in fifteen minutes."

"Is there anything else that needs to be said Ventus-dono?" Jadework asked in a respectful tone.

"This isn't like every other scenario we've had with Slade in the past where he's had some ulterior motive for whatever he was doing. I can see the signs. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up, and the scar that Raven saw when she was perving on me in the shower during our sabbatical is flaring up." Raven's face flushed bright red and the hologram projector spontaneously exploded while the others looked at her strangely. "Slade's playing for keeps here, and we can't afford to hold back. If we save energy for a retreat, we will not survive the coming fight, so lets put our all into this thing!"

" . . . Why were you watching friend Ventus in the shower?" Starfire asked after a few seconds, Raven pulling the cowl of her hood over her face.

* * *

><p>Winds rushing into the G-Comet as the doors opened, Robin, Jadework, and Grey-Wing leaped into the open air just outside the facility. Slade knew they were coming, and there wasn't time for subtlety, only action. Furling his cape out wide, Robin glided down to the ground, before flipping in mid-air and driving his staff through the visor of the Sladebot that he used as a landing pad. Jadework simply laced his feet with jade before he smashed a Sladebot with his weight. Grey-wing was true to her name... having a winged Jetpack on her back with grey holowings, obviously inspired from Lancelot from <span>Code Geass<span>, and landed gracefully on the ground. An exploding disk from Robin's utility belt taking out one of the walls, the three rushed into the building. Robin and Grey-Wing jumping through first, Jadework turned around to see the sentinels from outside rushing after them. His crystal-clad hand placed upon the ground, sheets of jade-colored crystal shot out of the ground to fill the hole, before horizontal teeth sprung forth to catch the Sladebots that couldn't stop their momentum. Shooting off after his teammates, the three soon burst into the main server room, a large space with computers lining the walls, a large console at the far end with multiple keyboards.

And in front of it, the daughter of Deathstroke the Terminator, Ravager.

Abandoning all pretense she drew a katana from her back and an SMG from her hip, opening fire on the three as she rushed forward. Robin furling his cape forward, the material deflected the bullets from his body while Jadework and Grey-Wing flanked right, the shinobi keeping himself between between his teammate and foe, who changed targets and rushed him with katana in hand. Opening his hand, Jadework's crystal-covered arm soon became a slender blade of crystal that met tempered metal in a shower of sparks, Grey-Wing sprinting to the main console as fast as her legs could carry her. Ravager deflected the crystal blade upward before knocking Jadework away with a roundhouse kick, leveling her SMG at the girl before he could begin bypassing security. Her finger a hair's width away from the trigger, one of Robin's birdarangs flew through the air and impacted the weapon sidelong, knocking it out of her hands before he brought his staff to bear, intent on splitting his opponent's head open despite initial reservations. True to form, had he aimed to incapacitate instead of kill, her dual blades would've found themselves through his chest; they were instead crossed over her head in an **X** to block.

"How long until the hack's complete!" Robin shouted as he split his staff into two batons and clashed against Ravager's blades.

"I don't know! I've never hacked Deathstroke's programming before!" Grey-Wing answered, her fingers a blur of motion over the keys.

"Don't stop, we will keep you covered!" Jadework said rushing to her side and placing his hand on the ground, spires of crystal forming a wall behind the hacker as she worked. "Robin! Sladebots from the rear!" he shouted as he rushed at Ravager with sword-arm on hand, a flood of machines stormed down the hallway they'd taken in.

"Not for long," the Boy Wonder said as he backflipped, Ravager's attention now focused on the crystal-armed shinobi. Palming an explosive disk in each hand, the first he launched into the ceiling right in front of the Sladebots, causing it to collapse in a shower of debris. The second impacted as the debris were mid-fall, and when the light subsided, the concrete was suspended in a block of ice, completely sealing them in. Like Vent had said, there was no room for retreat, only forward.

* * *

><p>"You think the three of them will make it?" Cyborg said as the G-Comet shot down the street, the Pizza Corner coming into view as they shot down the hill. Ironic how Slade's base was below where they'd first fought those who gave them the man's name.<p>

"They'll have to," Vent answered as he made his final preparations. Wind swirling around his hands as he pulled his Ignition Cloth Gloves tight, he pat the katana strapped to his side. "Raven, remember what I told you."

"I know. Brace myself against each shot, and aim for where they're going to be, not where they're at," Raven answered. The high-yield sniper rifle from Gurren Lagann might've looked a bit odd in the hands of a mage, but like she said earlier, there wasn't much for her to work with in the middle of the air, so she'd need it more than him.

"Friends, we are almost there," Starfire said as the door opened, the alien leaping out and flying alongside the bus as she blitzed the Sladebots rushing to meet them.

"Its go time!" Beast Boy shouted as he leapt out too, gliding to the ground before turning into a rhino and ramming down everything in his path.

"Booyah!" Cyborg shouted as he hung out the doorway for a few seconds and opened fire with his sonic cannon, before leaping out to land on Beast Boy's back and whipping out his second arm cannon.

"Raven," the brunette said as he stepped out to the threshold. "We make it through this, and I'll forgive you for... this," he said motioning to his left eyebrow, the runes slightly-faded, though it'd take a while for his hair to grow back. "So don't you go dying up there."

"Got it," Raven nodded in affirmative, the brunette shooting her a grin before he too leaped out, the G-Comet pulling up and soaring into the sky. However, unlike Cyborg who landed on Beast Boy's back, the aerokinetic landed on Starfire's.

"Let us/Let's light them/'em up!" Starfire and Ventus both shouted, the alien girl bringing her arms to bear as she charged a large starbolt between both hands before sending it flying. Muscles tensing in his arms as his eyes glowed brightly, the brunette snapped both hands, the wind hungrily devouring the sparks before twin streaks of red light flew into the neon green starbolt. At the moment the two collided, a massive red and green explosion blew up the street in front of them with a force greater than either could achieve on their own. With the advance guard destroyed, Sladebots began pouring into the intersection from the surrounding streets. Cyborg's arm cannons going off full-tilt as the changeling transformed underneath him, the Tyranosaurus Rex let out a deafening roar as he crushed Slade's robots underfoot, smacking those aside with his tail that attempted to come at them from behind. Ventus soon leaped off of Starfire's back with sword drawn, the implement coated in criss-crossing paths of wind creating an infinitely-sharp blade, and cutting down everything in front of him, while anything he missed were taken out by Starfire's now-concentrated eyebeams, the dual lances of emerald light cutting through metal and circuitry like a knife through hot butter. A particularly large group of Titan-Killers coming at them, Starfire grabbed the brunette's left leg and right shoulder, and as though she were wielding a naginata she spun around at insane speeds, the infinitely-sharp blade of wind combined with power and speed beyond human cutting the ever-growing swarm of machines to ribbons, lasers from her eyes only adding to the cyclone of destruction.

Despite the ruined mechanical carcasses layering the ground, for every one that fell, two took its place.

* * *

><p><strong>"You appear to be under duress. Do you wish me to run the tutorial for that make of rifle?" <strong>Dr. Slim asked into the earpiece Raven had taken, so they could stay in contact.

"No, I'm fine," Raven answered, a little unused to the weight. Of course it wasn't _her _arms holding it, but a pair of shadow constructs she had created to better-aim it. A high-powered electric rifle may be out-of-place in the hands of a mage, but it would do more good in her hands than for those on the ground. _'Just like Vent said. Don't aim where they're at, aim where they're going to be,' _she spoke to herself. If something got too close for her rifle to take care of, she'd always grab them with her (copied) Phantom Claw.

**"Contact in 30 seconds," **Dr. Slim spoke, the silhouettes of the Batbots growing ever-closer. **"If I may offer some advice, you do not need better aim..." **As he said this, panels across the bus began to fold back, revealing numerous energy-powered weapons of varying shape, configuration, and type. **"You ****just need to shoot more bullets," **he said as Raven fired the first shot, nailing a Batbot in the chest and dropping it from the sky. At the same moment, the numerous weapons equipped to the G-Comet went live, hundreds of neon blue energy bolts sailing through the air into the wall of flying metal coming towards them, explosions ringing the skies as countless bodies fell.

Within moments, their claws were raking at its hull, the mage barely keeping them back.

* * *

><p>Though only minutes passed since Grey-Wing began her hacking attempts of the computer systems that Slade controlled, for Robin and Jadework it felt like hours. Both were veritable masters in their respective fighting styles, the only thing keeping them from the big-leagues being their inexperience when compared to that of their mentors. Just as Ventus had said, were they to bring in anything less to that fight than the intent to put their opponent six feet under, Ravager would've overwhelmed them from the get-go and slain Grey-Wing where she stood. However, because neither of them had ever fought with the intent to completely destroy their opponents until now, their bodies were rife with cuts, none of which were fatal, only slightly debilitating. Ravager had no such reservations, trained from childhood with a "fight to win" mentality, she remained completely unscathed aside from a rip of clothing here or a scrape on her body armor there. Because in most cases her opponents were slain in her initial lunge, she was not completely used to an opponent fighting back, let alone two. One of them a legitimate ninja no less, whose crystal blades gave her own twin katana no quarter.<p>

"Friend Grey-Wing, our situation is dire so could you-" Jadework dodged another one of Ravager's strikes. "Perhaps-" His bangs got clipped by a katana swing. "Hurry!?"

"Need a bit more time!" Grey-wing yelled back, her fingers flying over the keyboard. "Just keep her off my back, I can't afford to be interrupted at this crucial stage!"

Realizing that her failure was eminent, Ravager reached into her belt before pulling out a grenade. Removing the pin with her teeth, the girl sent it flying at the crystal wall separating them, the explosives going off on impact sending a shower of shards into the console. However the shards did not cut through Grey-Wing as she intended them to... rather they _bounced_ off a blue field that suddenly appeared around the girl.

"Ha! I had an energy field around me the entire time, Terminator-bitch!" Grey-Wing taunted over her shoulder. "You think I would come here, where a gun toting psychopath with daddy issues up the ass was, without protection?" She had prepared for every sort of problem and every contingency. "Enter key, assholes!" she said with a smirk as she pressed the final key, the coding she had programmed in suddenly spreading through the systems like wildfire, causing all of the components to die while nullifying the backup protocols. Without the AI Networking, the Sladebots and Titan-Killers would be significantly weaker. And dull-witted, since they would no longer be directly aware what the other was doing.

"Ravager, leave your post and wait for me at the rendezvous point. There's no purpose in remaining there."

"No! I can beat them! ALL of them!" Ravager yelled into her earpiece, the look in her singular eye making her look quite deranged to the others who thought she was talking to herself.

"That's an order. We'll discuss your failure at a later date."

" . . . Yes master," Ravager muttered to herself as she backed away from the two's strikes, eventually backing herself to the wall. "You three got lucky today. Next time you won't be so fortunate!" she called out as she threw a smokebomb at the ground, the three staying out of reach. The sound of an explosive charge going off a moment later, the smoke cleared revealing the daughter of Deathstroke had made her escape.

"We going after the psycho-bitch?" Grey-Wing asked as she stepped away from the now-ruined console, the keys directly in front of her being the only thing that survived the shrapnel.

"No, we need to get back to the city. Just because the Sladebots lost coordination doesn't mean they're any less dangerous on their own," Robin answered before pulling out his T-Comm. "Raven, our primary directive has been completed. Run a sweep to pick us up and we'll rejoin Team Beta," he ordered as they ran through the new hole in the wall. "Once we're all together, we can take down Slade and end this nightmare."

"On my way now."

* * *

><p>"Where's that backup?!" Cyborg shouted as he stood back-to-back with the rest of Team Beta, his sonic cannons and auxiliary missile launchers just barely keeping the tide of black metallic death at bay. Though initially they'd beaten the horde back, after overcoming their surprise, Deathstroke's robotic forces pushed back with a vengeance, forcing the four Titans back-to-back-to-back-to-back.<p>

"Getting tired here!" Beast Boy said slipping back to his human form, falling to one knee and catching his breath before turning back into all 1500 pounds of Ussuri Brown Bear -_also known as the Black Grizzly_-, and tore whatever came at him to shreds with a berserk vigor. Just because one of these could survive being pile-driven by giant fictional Russian wrestlers while being caught in a cyclone, didn't mean they could fend off robotic death-machines forever.

"Do not stop fighting! Our friends _will _pull through for us!" Starfire shouted between bursts of laser fire and energy blasts.

"It'd better happen soon! This entire thing hinges on them being able to do this _QUICKLY_!" Ventus shouted snapping off explosions in rapid succession. Briefly turning his eyes to the sky, he saw the G-Comet flying in corkscrews, barrel rolls, and every other aerial maneuver performable by a flying tour bus, all in an attempt to shake off the winged machines chasing after them. Whenever one of them managed to latch onto the bus, a shadowy hand or an electric bolt would send it flying, though not before rending fistfulls of components from its frame. A few minutes more and one of them may pull out something important, turning the G-Comet into a flying heap of scrap.

And then as if a switch had been flipped, or their prayers answered, a sudden change spread across the battlefield.

The Sladebots and Titan-Killers, once attacking from all sides like a singular entity, faltered. While before those who dodged backwards would switch out for one of the phantom siblings at their flanks in perfect synergy, they began bumping into one another as though they had forgotten the other were there. Instead of attacking in sequence, their movements became confused and jumbled as multiple units attempted to attack the same Teen Titan, only to stumble into one another or trip on the others feet. On the ground, it soon became like a mosh pit, machines attempting to bypass one another, oftentimes knocking one another away creating a domino effect. From the air, the coordinated swoops at the G-Comet became disorganized, Batbots crashing into one another, sending them plummeting from the sky by the dozen.

"PUSH THEM BACK!" Vent shouted before the machines could re-coordinate. Though his hands ached, he raised his hands once more, snapping off explosion after explosion, plumes of fuel-fed flame and metallic viscera rising in his wake. Starfire cupped her hands at her side, concentrating a large sphere of energy in her hands before firing off a massive beam that she swept out to the side, vaporizing dozens. Energy filler still substantial for the coming fight, Cyborg fired off sonic bolts from his arm cannons with enough concussive force to knock a freight train off the tracks. Filled with renewed vigor, Beast Boy transformed into a hippo and began tearing the machines apart with foot-long teeth, just as capable of ripping them to shreds as any apex predator. Soon the herd of machines began to thin, either by the Titans' hand, or by the machines' flying brethren crashing into them from above and crushing them on impact.

"Yeah! We got 'em on the run now!"

"Dammit Beast Boy!" Vent cursed as the ground began to rumble at their feet. Looking back the way they came, they saw Cinderblock rolling down the hill like a boulder. The hairs on his neck standing up, he looked to the left of the Pizza Corner, arcs of neon blue electricity leaping between lampposts before Overload leaped out in full like a legless torso. A loud screech meeting his ears, he looked to the right of the Pizza Corner, the mutated form of Plasmus stomping his way down towards them. "You jinxed us!"

"I didn't know!" the changeling whined.

"They were going to come at us anyway," Cyborg sighed as Slade's heavy _-or_ _heavi_er- hitters began crushing what robots remained underfoot. "Its just sooner rather than later," he said cracking his knuckles.

"Beta Team, I'm heading out to bring in Alpha Team for reinforcements. Hold out until we get back," Raven said over the T-Comms.

"That we shall do," Starfire responded, the G-Comet shooting off back to the woods to pick up Robin, Jadework, and Grey-Wing.

"Easier said than done," Vent groaned as he began walking towards the rolling Cinderblock, arms hanging limply at his sides and eyes closed. Snapping them open to pure silver, with a sweep of his hand dozens of mechanical carcasses were sent tumbling through the air and into the rolling golem's path in a burst of wind. Though bits of rock were shaved off, Cinderblock kept coming strong, another swipe of Ventus' hand sending the mechanical remains at his other side tumbling into the boulder's path like a horizontal deluge of metal. This time, the intended effect was gained, as Cinderblock was driven off-course and into the ground floor of a nearby building. Looking over his shoulder to see that the others had selected their own foes to fight, Vent saw Cinderblock pulling himself to his feet, supporting himself off one of the support columns. Clicking his teeth in frustration, the brunette snapped his aching hand once again, sparks flying into the building before detonating at the supporting structures. At first nothing happened, but Cinderblock's eyes widened as the entire building began to rumble, and then promptly collapsed into its own footprint, burying Cinderblock under a mountain of debris. "I'm _*pant* _going to take _*wheeze*_ a quick breather," the brunette huffed as he fell onto his butt, the adrenaline keeping him on his feet finally giving out, his fatigue, both physical and mental, catching up to him.

* * *

><p>Behind the brunette as he kicked up a storm of metallic debris, Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire rushed to met their own opponents, the two boys rushing at Plasmus for Round Two, while Starfire shot towards Overload, Starbolts glowing brightly in her hands. Plasmus and Overload gave one another sidelong glances, before smirks pulled at their respective faces. Then, in a coordinated movement that could've only occurred if they were being remotely manipulated by a trained soldier, the two switched positions without losing stride, Overload flying towards Cyborg and Beast Boy, while Plasmus rushed at Starfire like a wave. Starfire was quickly overwhelmed as Plasmus wrapped himself around her body like a cocoon, bursts of emerald light bursting through his frame only to close back up like water. Cyborg and Beast Boy were electrocuted as Overload became incorporeal and passed through their bodies, the changeling's body smoking and his hair singed while panels across Cyborg's body had overloaded. After Starfire's struggles had ended, Plasmus regained his remotely-humanoid form before picking at his teeth, the back of Starfire's outfit caught on his finger before he simply tossed her aside. For Overload, once he was satisfied that the shape-changing and pseudo-metal organics had both been incapacitated, they focused their attention on the remaining standing Teen Titan, who at that moment had just collapsed a building atop their respective ally Cinderblock.<p>

"Guys? I don't hear you fighting," he said before looking over his shoulder, one form coated in sludge while the other two were smoking. "Fuck me," he cursed as Plasmus and Cinderblock strode towards them, while from the rubble a hand burst forth before Cinderblock pulled himself free, the only form of damage being a couple pieces of rebar stuck in his body like splinters. He wearily raised his arm up to snap off another explosion at Plasmus, whose viscous form would give him the most trouble, only for an arc of lightning from Overload to strike the glove and, ironically, ignite the cloth, the shock racing up his arm and numbing it. Ignoring the dead weight at his side, he raised his other arm up only for a stone vise to clamp down on his arm, Cinderblock chuckling like two rocks rubbing together before he chucked the brunette through the air. Suspended in Overload's immaterial form instead of passing through, as the others regained consciousness, the brunette's cries of pain snapped them into alertness as he was lit up like a Christmas tree. Before they could get to their feet however, the brunette's cries of pain ceased, and he was unceremoniously dropped to the ground like a sack of flour, smoke rising off his form, a great deal more than was Beast Boy and Cyborg had to contend with.

" . . . Vent...?" Starfire gasped, dropping all formalities as she stared at his unmoving form. "Vent, answer me!"

"Dude..." Beast Boy gaped, Cyborg rendered speechless at the sight. At that moment, Plasmus took the opportunity to flip the defeated Titan onto his back with a nudge of his foot, the others ignored as the three hulking behemoths chuckled. The Titans looked towards the brunette for any sign of life, any sign that he was okay. Their only answer was his head lolling to the side, eyes rolled up in the back of his head, mouth held agape in a wordless cry.

"You..." Starfire growled as tears began to flow from her emerald eyes. "YOU MONSTERS!" she roared as a neon green corona of energy erupted from around her body, the the behemoth's attention drawn from the body at their feet as a green comet shot through the air, catching Plasmus in the chest and scattering him across the street. Cinderblock's jaw almost fell off his head, the sounds of thundering footsteps snapping him back to attention right before a massive T-Rex skull slammed bodily into his chest, lifting him off his feet and dragging him through the front walls of a few buildings down the street before he was tossed to the side. About to join in the fight, Overload was caught off guard when a lamp post burst through his chest, almost catching his "heart", a blast of energy oscillating at the same frequency of his own impacting his back and throwing him into the air, the forced stabilization making his body corporeal enough to tumble across the ground.

As the three-on-three fight ensued anew, the prone body lying on the ground lay undisturbed, but not forgotten.

* * *

><p>"<em>*GASP!*<em>" Raven gasped wide-eyed the moment Alpha Team pulled themselves into the G-Comet, her hand going to her left eye and body trembling.

"Raven, what happened?" Robin asked placing a hand on her shoulder, only for the mage to run to the front of the bus, hands slamming against the forward console.

"How fast can this thing go?" Raven asked, lip quivering as a feeling she couldn't describe gripped her chest.

"As fast as we need it," Grey-Wing said as she hopped into her seat. A quick diagnostic revealed that though more than half of the on-board weaponry had been ripped from its moorings and a great deal of damage was done to the body work, miraculously there wasn't that much damage to the propulsion system. However, until she could run a _full _diagnostics, she couldn't discern the true extent of the damage. The tech-head was snapped to attention as, on the horizon, a bright flash of neon green light shone between the buildings of downtown, the G-Comet's audial emulators picking up the sound of a bestial roar that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, before a thunderclap knocked them out of their stupor.

" . . . What was that?" Jadework spoke after a moment, his only response being the G-Comet's engines whirring loudly and lurching forward, him and Robin thrown off their feet as the G-Comet shot forward into downtown, the frame shaking but holding firm even as body panels tore loose from the sub-sonic speed. Rounding the corner and flying down the hill towards Beta Team, what they were greeted with was pure chaos. Buildings lay in ruin, bodies -_mechanical_- strewn about like refuse, fires blazing all about, and the enraged forms of Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg were tearing into Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload like beings possessed. As the G-Comet came to a stop just outside the combat area, Raven was the first one out, breathing uneven and her cloak sporadically changing color as her eyes darted around the battlefield.

"Where is he...? He should be here!" Raven cried in shock as she turned around, again and again. And then she found him. Running as fast as her legs could carry her, heedless of the mass of stone and flesh barreling past the tail of her cloak, or the storm of energy that sailed just overhead, or the deluge of energy and rapidly-regenerating sludge that fell around her, the mage fell to her knees at the calm of the storm. _"No..." _she whispered as the color began to drain from her face. "No... Nonononono! You can't do this!" Raven cried as she fisted the brunette's singed shirt. "You can't do this! Not now! NOT NOW!" she cried as Robin, Grey-Wing, and Jadework finally caught up to her after weaving through the battlefield, any word against her heedless actions dying on their lips at the sight that greeted them.

"W...What?" Was all the normally articulate Grey-wing could say. The constant calculations in her head grinding to a halt at the sight.

"No..." The mutant Ninja croaked, finding his throat tightened by emotion.

"Vincent, wake up, PLEASE!" Raven cried out. Though his true name slipped, it was unheard in the explosion that went off just to the side, her cloak whipping in the wind as she shielded his body with her own.

* * *

><p>" . . . Am I dead?"<p>

Finding himself in a dark tunnel, the contours between the walls, floor, and ceiling undiscriminatable, he looked down to notice he was naked the day he was born.

"It makes sense... I guess... When you die, you don't get to take your clothes with you."

The next moment, the darkness was pierced by a brilliant light, like at the end of the tunnel.

" . . . Guess I messed up..." he sighed in resignation as his feet began to take him forward. "My only regret... probably that I couldn't save Terra."

As he neared the light, he began to hear... singing, like that of the angels.

"Well, at least I know where I'm going," he said as the feeling of a rising incline met his feet. "I know I should be trying to go back... return to my body, but... I'm just so tired..." he sighed as he continued forward, because even though deep down he couldn't accept the fact, his time was up. "All things considered..." he said as the whispers of a familiar voice reached his ears. "I can think of worse ways to die."

**"NOT YET... YOU STILL HAVE A DUTY TO FULFILL..."**

Deep bellowing tone reaching his ears and stopping him in his tracks, his left eye burned as a massive clawed hand descended upon him. Fingers the thickness of his body clamping down around him, he flailed in panic as a sense of dread washed over him. Hoisted from his feet, between the clawed hand's fingers he saw the light at the end of the tunnel go out, and in a rough motion he was pulled backwards.

* * *

><p>"Come on Vent, wake up! Wake up!" Raven cried as tears fell from her eyes onto his chest, tuning out the scorched smell as she pressed white-glowing hands to his chest. The battle raging around them as Robin and Jadework joined the struggle, only Grey-Wing remained by her side, a last line of defense should the others fall.<p>

"Rae... He's gone..." Grey-wing was quiet and serious for once in this situation. Her brain had calculated what chance that he was still alive. All variables ended in zero.

"No! I refuse to accept that!" Raven shouted as she shook her head. "I refuse to accept this hand fate has dealt me!" she cried as her hands glowed even brighter, the blue of her cloak becoming awash with white as the flare grew in intensity. The fighting ceasing as the light washed over them, the streets grew silent as the radiant glow surged overhead. Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, the light receded.

"I'm sorry," Grey-Wing said putting a hand on the mage's shoulder, no visible change to the body at her feet, the storm around them continuing anew. "He's gone."

"No..." Raven cried as she shrunk into herself, her cloak bleeding into gray as she hugged her shaking frame, racked with sobs she could barely restrain. The next moment, the body's eyes snapped back into focus, back arching as air surged into the once-empty lungs, before ragged coughing passed his lips. "Vent!" Raven cried in joy as her cloak bled back to blue, Grey-Wing gaping like a fish as the body was pulled into a sitting position. "You're okay!" the mage said as the corners of her lips were pulled upwards, arms wrapped around his neck as he continued to cough and wheeze, but was nonetheless alive.

"What... What happened?" Vent said as a hand went to his left eye, the patch scorched off at his electrocution, what little light he could see burning deeply into his retina. The sound of a bellowing roar meeting his ears, he looked up to see Cinderblock surging towards them, massive fists raised to crush them like bugs in the concrete. Raven raising her hand to cast a spell, while Grey-Wing unfurled her sniper rifle, time seemed to slow down as the brunette's eye widened, filled with a clarity he did not possess in his first life, his powers returned in full. A grin pulling at his face, acutely aware of every ounce of wind before him, the brunette raised his arms above his head and towards his opponent, fingers splayed outward as he called out- "Shinra Tensei!"

Albeit far from the scope of the original, comprised only of air and not gravity, the repulsive clap of wind reversed Cinderblock's momentum in its entirely. Earthen fist mere inches from crushing the mage like a bug, the behemoth was now sent tumbling end over end through the air like a rag doll. Body bounding across the ground after facing the business end of the brunette's renewed power, the fighting ceased once again, all eyes turning and widening at the sight that greeted them. After all, its not every day you see someone come back from the dead. Magic, divine intervention, or something... else, what had once been done, was undone, as the brunette soon stood by his own power.

"I'm... back... bitches..." the brunette smirked as he caught his breath. Though now unafraid to use the full force of his power, it seemed his body hadn't quite caught up with him on that regard. "Lets do this-" he said before falling to his knees. Apparently he couldn't stand by as much his own power as he thought.

"Vent, you've done more than enough," Robin said back, relieved his teammate was alright. "Leave the rest to us. Once we're done here, we'll go after Slade together."

" . . . Alright," the brunette sighed as he fell back onto his butt, visibly tugging at his collar. "But not a moment later." The Boy Wonder in return nodded his head as he charged back into battle alongside the others, the momentum of their struggle radically shifted as the Teen Titans began beating Cinderblock, Overload, and Plasmus back.

* * *

><p>The sounds of battle echoing from above in the underground chamber, a steel bulkhead was suddenly knocked clean off its moorings by a massive wholly mammoth. An automated camera slowly swiveling to the right, the hulking shape soon disappeared, a much smaller form scampering up the cave wall before a paw yanked the connecting cable out of its socket. Dropping down as the red Recording signal on the camera died, the smaller form revealed itself to be Beast Boy, battle-worn but no less for wear, all of his training since the attack on their Tower paying off in full.<p>

"Okay, the coast is clear," the changeling said, Ventus rounding the corner, though he still used the wall to support his weight. "You really think we should be moving ahead like this?"

"If we don't, then Slade might escape, and his crimes unanswered for," the brunette answered. While he wasn't sure if Raven's magic had brought him back from the brink, he felt _much _better than before. However, his eye was still very sensitive, so he used the bandana he once wore while training under Slade to cover it. "Our friends' morale is at its highest, while that of our enemies' is at an all-time low. Besides..." he said clapping a hand on the changeling's shoulder. "We've both had an axe to grind against Slade for a while. Now its time to take that swing."

"You're right about that," the changeling returned as they continued down the tunnel. "So... Some power boost huh? Kinda like Goku's, only you really _did _die this time."

"Yeah. I'm not afraid of my full power anymore. Dying and then coming back tends to give you some clarity," the brunette replied, the memories of that light at the end of the tunnel only to be yanked away completely gone from his mind. "Of course that Shinra Tensei parody emptied out my tank, so from here on out its hand-to-hand. My rifle's probably back at the G-Comet, and assuming things don't turn pear-shaped I'll need you to help me recover my sword. Must've gotten lost when I got the shock therapy."

"No anime hour then?" Beast Boy asked. It may not've been as impressive as Nagato's, but that Shinra Tensei was still pretty cool in the changeling's eyes.

"Nope. Empty hands," the brunette replied holding up his empty hands.

"Maybe, but we've got one thing he doesn't," the changeling said bringing out a thumbs-up. "Backup."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Slade's voice rung out as the two entered his chamber, the man standing atop a rocky outcropping, while in the middle of the room on her knees was Terra, head hung low. There was no artificial lighting outside the stained glass windows like one would find in a church, but the two were mainly wondering WHERE the light was coming from. Seriously, put a few pews in there and you could hold sermon.

"Guys... destroy me... quickly..." Terra said barely above a whisper.

"What?" Vent asked with a confused expression. Slade at that moment pressed a button on his forearm, arcs of electricity flowing up the blond's body as she was forced to her feet, like a marionette fighting its strings.

"You have to stop me... I can't control myself..." Terra said in shaky words as her gold-glowing hands were raised up, though not of her own volition. The floor rumbling, a large boulder was levitated into the air before being sent at the two, forcing them to dodge sidelong or get crushed. With a forced wave of her hand, the blond sent waves of sharp stones at each of them, the hesitation on her part keeping the aim where they were _at _instead of where they were _going _to be. Having flanked Terra from both sides, the two then ran right at Slade. Ventus leading with a spinning mid-air kick, the changeling slid like a baseball player to home base in an attempt to knock the man's feet out from under him. In response the man brought up a forearm to dodge, while raising his foot at the last second and planting it on the changeling's back. Belly pressed against the ground, the changeling transformed into a King Cobra, and though he was pinned, the world's longest venomous snake had just enough wiggle room to sink his fangs into the man's ankle. Pressing his foot down and making the snake let go in a **_HISS_**, the man kicked in the middle of its hood with his free foot, sending Beast Boy bouncing through the air.

"Beast Boy, how much poison did you get in?" Vent asked as he caught the changeling, who rubbed his sore throat upon changing back.

"Far from a full dose, and if he really _does _have a healing factor, that won't slow him down for long," Beast Boy grumbled. While normally he wouldn't resort to using venomous species on his opponents, Slade had tried to annihilate them, so if it actually _did _come down to it, he could call it off as self-defense or defense-of-others in the court of law.

"Aiming for a fatal blow. I'm impressed," the man remarked as he shook his left ankle. Though the neurotoxins stung a little, he quashed the pain down, his body would naturally purge it from his systems later. As he began to pace to the right, he noticed that Ventus and Beast Boy kept themselves between him and Terra. Initially, it could be seen as an attempt to protect her from him, but the look in his ex-apprentice's eyes, he could see the gears turning in his head. _'Excellent strategy. Positioned as your are, any attacks from the girl I send could be easily redirected at me. This might be _check_, but the game is far from over,' _he thought before he rushed at them with bo staff drawn. The brunette stepping in front of Beast Boy as predicted, deflected the blow away from himself instead of blocking it outright, saving him a broken ulna. The one-moment opening was all the changeling needed as he imposed himself between the brunette and Deathstroke. Transforming into a green-colored Red Kangaroo, all 150 pounds of six-foot tall marsupial was suspended on his tail as he lashed out with a double kick at point-blank range. Though each hind leg packing the same punch as a heavyweight boxer, Deathstroke instead only had the wind knocked out of him, his body armor just barely stopped the thunder from down under's dagger-like toenails from ripping his abdomen open. However, now a significant distance away from the two, he could have the blond attack and have plenty of time to get away from whatever slipped between the cracks. Raising a hand to his forearm, he saw the control device missing.

"You forget, Slade. Even before you found me, I was a master pickpocket," Vent said with a smirk as he held the detachable controller in his hand. "_Whoops_, I _dropped_ it," he said in mock worry as he let it fall from his hand, before stomping on it with his foot. "_Aw_, its broken."

"Looks like it's just you and us now!" Beast Boy said as he and the brunette got into a fighting stance, the man's trump card now gone. On the way down, Vent had told him about how the armor might not've been _just _a fashion statement, and Slade _visibly _manipulating her actions against them moments ago confirmed the theory. Thus above all else, they prioritized separating the man from his control mechanism. And what better way to do that than _literally _crushing it underfoot?

"Actually, it's just myself and _you_," he said as a familiar trigger slid forward into his hand, his hand held sideways as he pressed the trigger with a small _**click**_. For a moment nothing happened, but the brunette at the changeling's side suddenly convulsed, falling onto his hands and knees as his body began to glow orange, red spots scattered across his frame and a white haze veiled his body. The same colors from when Slade had "probed" the team before.

"Vent!" Beast Boy cried out as the brunette fell onto his side, then onto his back which arched as a silent scream escaped his lips, his body convulsing and limbs flailing about

"While not the same type of nanoscopic probes I had used before, these _are _capable of stimulating your pain receptors in a body-wide scale, resulting in your current state. Though they aren't as… _effective_, as the ones from before, they should keep you down long enough until you're… fitted," he said mulling over the last word before motioning to a large steel canister behind him. With a _**HISSS**_ of pressurized air, the pod doors opened, revealing a bandage-like bodysuit with armor components similar to those already on Terra, only in a larger size and for the opposite gender.

"N… No…" Terra gasped with wide eyes, realizing what the man had planned all along.

"You… sick bastard…" Beast Boy growled as the brunette continued to writhe, crumpling like a wet sock each time he tried to get to his feet.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, my boy," Slade returned in a mocking tone.

"I _will _stop you! There's no way in _hell _I'll let you get that armor on Vent!" the changeling growled as his eyes became cat-like with slit pupils, a low growl leaving his mouth as his stance became predatory.

"If you believe you are as capable of stopping me as you believe, then feel free to try," Slade said bringing out a length of metal before it extended into a full fighting staff. "While not part of my original plan, a servant with your unique power _would _be a valuable asset in the future. Who knows, I may not even _need _the armor to tell you what to do. Not when I can offer you the proper... incentive." he said as his eye turned to Terra, causing the girl to gasp at the implication.

"SHUT UP!" Beast Boy and Ventus roared, the changeling turning into a tiger and rushing forward while the brunette forced himself to his feet, blood dribbling out the corners of his mouth as he lumbered forward before painfully transitioning into a jog, then a sprint. Right at the moment Slade threw the changeling over his shoulder, he was completely unprepared for the punch that met the center of his mask, a _***CRACK* **_rising from between his eyes to the top of his mask as he was sent stumbling back by the surprise attack. The next moment a maw of tiger fangs clamped down around his leg, the man biting back the cry of pain that threatened to leave his lips as he began punching the green beast in the face with his remaining hand. When the un-powered aerokinetic leaped onto his back and attempted to put him in a choke hold, the man delivered a trio of backwards elbow strikes to the teen's abdomen, throwing him to the ground and a fresh geyser of blood burst past his lips. However, this moment of inattention was all the changeling needed to clamp his teeth down in force, fibula breaking as his fangs dug into the man's tibula. With superhuman strength the man stood on his hands and tore the beast free with a helicopter kick, only for the brunette to rush back in for even _more _punishment.

As the brunette and greenette threw themselves back in the melee, the now-forgotten blond watched the proceedings with wide eyes. Tears streaming down her face as the two fought tooth and nail, for _her _no less after everything she had done, she wearily tried to raise her hand up and help, though the soreness of her body made it feel like a led weight, and her hand fell back to her side. Every part of her body ached, a result of resisting her body's involuntary movements as best it could. A crack of knuckle against flesh, Slade's fist impacted the brunette's face and sent him tumbling end over end, blood dribbling down his face as he came to rest on his back. The familiar shifting noise that accompanied the changeling transforming, Beast Boy suddenly transformed into an ankylosaur, and with a swing of his tail struck the man in the back with a loud _***crack***_, only for the man to roll back to his feet, a slight wince the only indicator he'd been hurt at all. Swinging at the dinosaur's head intent on gouging an eye out, the end of his staff met retractable defensive bone plate instead of ocular tissue, which was all the time Vent needed to jump back to his feet, falling to a knee as blood dribbled out his mouth, before he wiped it away and leapt back in, fighting through the pain even now.

To anyone else, it'd look like Ventus was recklessly throwing himself at Slade and getting the stuffing beaten out of him, alternating between that and Beast Boy getting his pound of flesh. However, having led the Teen Titans into the Invasive Scan that allowed Slade to engineer the Titan-Killers, she knew different. A little-known fact about Beast Boy was that due to his body's "malleability" when transitioning between forms, he was at his most-susceptible to injury in that half-second, so a light smack to the arm when between forms could result in the next one having a broken one. What Ventus was doing, attacking Slade again and again despite his efforts being in vain, was drawing Slade's attention away from the changeling long enough to safely transition between forms. For whatever reason the brunette wasn't using his powers, that made the changeling the heavy hitter of the two, and as they were couldn't afford for the changeling to be injured in any debilitating manner. Since the animal forms he was being attacked with varied so greatly, Slade couldn't effectively devise a countermeasure before having to adapt to a new one, and the injuries incurred only accumulated.

_'They're... they're beating him!' _the blond thought in astonishment. _'They can do this! They can win! They can-'_

Her positive outlook on the outcome of this battle was suddenly shattered, as between attacks Slade reached over his shoulder and caught Vent by his throat, with a shout throwing him overhead and slamming him into the ground face-first, a loud **_*CRACK* _**crack through the cavern as he fell flat onto his back, head lolling off to the side. At that same moment Beast Boy rushed at Slade in the form of a raging bull, only for the man to grab him by the horns and wrestle him to the ground. However, what was happening to the changeling was the least of her worries, as Terra found the strength to crawl over to the brunette.

"Ven... Ven, wake up!" Terra cried as she looked into the brunette's unfocused eyes, praying that he answer, only to receive none. "No... No..." she growled as her shoulders shook. "NOOOOOOOOO!" she roared as a corona of golden energy suddenly burst from her body, lighting up the cavern like a miniature sun. Slade looking up from his bull-grapple, was suddenly caught in the chest by a flying earthen fist and sent flying, Beast Boy reverting to normal and gaping as Terra began to stride towards Slade with newfound strength, her eyes and body glowing a brilliant gold, the room beginning to rumble ominously. "I... WILL _BREAK _YOU!" she growled as she raised a stone pillar beneath herself into the air, before compressing the end to a point and sending it at Slade like a stake. Though he dodged the point, the rough edges grazed the underside of his forearm, shredding the controller for the nanoscopic probes in Vent's body. Adding further insult to injury, droplets from the sudden spray from a plume of magma burned into his exposed back.

"Vent, c'mon, don't tell me you're dead _again_," the changeling groaned as he ran over to the brunette, "Seriously, is this just going to become a _thing _with you or what?" he asked as he turned into an eel. Coiling around the brunette's chest and jump-starting his heart, the teen jerked into a sitting position.

"OW!" the brunette whined as he shook the cobwebs out of his head. "Ah, _man_, that's gonna hurt in the morning," he groaned as he cricked his neck. Had Slade not been fighting sloppily after Beast Boy had given him the go-around, his neck would've been snapped like a dry twig instead. "Where's Slade?"

"YOU'RE A _DEAD_ MAN!"

"That answer your question?" Beast Boy asked jabbing a thumb over his shoulder as Terra pelted Slade with rocks, occasionally sending pillars of earth from the ground to send him flying.

" . . . Am I the only one being turned on by this?" Vent asked after a few seconds.

"Keep it in your pants, dude," Beast Boy quipped. "But yeah, this is pretty hot."

"Beast Boy, Ventus, you shouldn't be down here-" Robin was _about _to finish with "on your own!", but him and the others gaped when they saw-

"Did I miss something?" Grey-Wing asked as Terra whaled on Slade, bubbling magma roiling in chasms that had opened up throughout the fight, plumes of magma shooting into the musty cave air.

"Long version or short version?" Vent asked.

"So we don't miss anything, the long version please," Robin answered.

"BB and I came down here, yanked out the wireless controller on Terra, played a bit of fisticuffs ping pong, and now Terra's kicking Slade's butt," the brunette answered.

"Wait, what's the short version?" Cyborg asked.

"Slade. Is. Screwed," Beast Boy chose to answer, though a plume of magma, larger than the others, caught his attention. "Um... Why is the Earth exploding?"

" . . . Terra's power! It's triggered a volcano!" Cyborg gaped at the readings his scanners were giving him.

"Big enough to take out the whole city!" Grey-Wing added from the readings her holo-screen ipad were giving her. "And way too big to stop!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Vent said slapping the sides of his face before bolting like a track star. Slade blocking a flurry of stones sent his way by Terra, he looked sidelong at the last second to see the bottom of Vent's shoe impacting his sternum, sending him tumbling across the ground. About to get up, the rock he was on suddenly gave way, leaving their line of sight.

"Ven! You're alright!" Terra cried as she tackled the brunette into a hug.

"Warm and fuzzies later! Things are getting crazy down here and you're the only one that can stop it!" Vent explained quickly.

"Got it!" Terra nodded as she ran back to the middle of the room, ignoring the grey-gloved hand that had pulled itself up.

* * *

><p>I've had my fair share of scrapes in my career. Mercenaries. Assassins. Superheroes. The occasional villain whenever there was a disagreement about terms of payment. But I've never been beaten quite like this. No wrath like a woman scorned indeed.<p>

Pulling myself up the rock face, I realize how old I've gotten. I might have a super-soldier serum coursing through my veins, but that doesn't the fact that time still moves on. Not for me, but the world around me. They say the next generation will always be better than the last, and after this fight I'm inclined to believe it. Were this someone from my generation, I would've won hands-down, but times are changing. I guess that's why I've been so fixated on leaving my mark on history.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. My former apprentice walks toward me, and while I've been able to influence him a great deal, I realize it was a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. His training cost me a great deal of time, money, and resources, only to amount to nothing when he up and quits before "doing the right thing" and joining the hero side. He'll either live long enough to get stabbed in the back by a friend, die "fighting the good fight", or become a villain himself when properly motivated.

I'll be honest in saying I didn't see the signs during his training, otherwise I could've rectified that. Seeing him in action today, the plan he created to topple my regime, while it might not have my name on it, I suppose in a way I left my mark after all.

He's kneeling now, gaze shifting from the rock in my hand, to the magma below, and then to me. I can see the gears in his head turning. I had a hand in their placement. The cultivation of his mind into what it is today. And when I read his expression, his intent, I realize something.

I couldn't be more proud.

* * *

><p>'<em>To the man's credit, he didn't beg for mercy or anything,<em>' the brunette thought to himself as the magma rose up through the slats and eyehole of the man's mask. "Guys! How's that little _issue _coming along?" Vent asked as he leaped back from a plume of magma.

"Not good!" Cyborg said firing his sonic cannons into open underground pockets in an attempt to relieve the pressure.

"We're running out of options here!" Grey-Wing said running calculations on her holo-screen, only to scrap them as variable kept changing.

"Then we need to get out of here and take what victory we can!" Vent chimed in.

"What part of "big enough to take out the whole city" did you miss?" Robin asked as he emptied all of his cryo-discs into the magma in an attempt to smother it, only for the temperature to spike.

" . . . I can stop it," Terra finally answered. "But you can't stay here. You need to go, _now_!" she ordered, the others leaving since there weren't really any other options. "Didn't you hear me? I said run!"

"No! I won't leave you!" Vent shouted over the roar of the magma. "Terr-"

"LISTEN TO ME!" the blond cried over her shoulder. "You're the most important person in my life, and I don't want you to die if I can't stop this! Now go! GO!" she pleaded desperately as she tried and failed to stop the waterfall of tears from streaming down her eyes. The brunette in return looked at her with wide eyes, before turning on his heels and running, shaking the tears welling up in his eyes.

"Come on! We have to go!" Cyborg shouted as he and the others neared the blasted out door they'd entered through. After Raven and Beast Boy had squeezed out however, Ventus stopped mid-step, looking over his shoulder to the golden glow from the other end of the tunnel.

"Vent! What're you doing?" Robin shouted when he noticed a sixth of the team was not accounted for. "We have to go! NOW!" he shouted as rubble continued to rain around them.

"I won't leave Terra behind again," the brunette sighted with closed eyes. A piece of rubble falling towards his head, Cy prepped his sonic cannon to fire. Before he could get the shot off, the brunette snapped open his eyes, a burst of wind destroying the rock, blood dribbling out his left nostril. "Terra was my best friend before any of you, but I left her behind. If I leave her here alone to die, I'd never be able to forgive myself, and I'd never get the chance to tell her how sorry I am," he said wiping the blood from his face, the result of forcing his powers to work when they were on empty evident enough. "That's why I have to stay."

"Man, this isn't the time for your philosophical bullcrap! This place is coming down no matter _what _Terra does!" Cyborg shouted as he blasted a piece of rubble that was heading right for Beast Boy.

"This isn't up for negotiation," Vent said as he buffeted another piece of rubble away from himself. "I won't leave Terra to die here alone. Not after what I did to her. Besides…" he chuckled as his right hand began to glow silver, the glow soon compressing into a thin sheet that covered the surface of his hand. "The five of you... you'll be fine even if I don't make it," he said as he placed his hand upon a console to his right, the appendage soon sinking into the metal, or at least that's how it appeared. What he was really doing was vibrating a film of air particles in his hand at such a tremendous speed, that they ground apart the metal and plastic in the control panel. A hand-shaped imprint perfectly cut out of the material was the last thing the team saw right before a large bulkhead came down.

"Vent!" Raven shouted as she beat her fist on the door.

"Just let her go and come on! There's still time!" Beast Boy shouted before he transformed into a wooly mammoth and rammed into the door full force, only for this one to be marginally stronger than before, the changeling sent reeling backwards and head ringing like a church bell.

"Guys, this is my choice, and if this has to be my final wish, then clean the gunk out of your ears and listen up," the brunette suddenly said from Cyborg's forearm communicator before he broadcasted onto everyone's T-Comms. "Believe in the me that believes in Terra. If you do that, then there isn't any doubt in my mind that we'll meet again. Now, I have to go. My friend needs me," he said cutting the lies one by one, the Titans protesting though they were powerless to stop it. "Oh, and Beast Boy," he said addressing the changeling last, tears streaming down the Titans' faces as they fought back the urge to openly sob. "You're in charge of remembering me in case I don't make it. To all my good friends... Sayonara," he said morosely as the line shut off, Raven and Beast Boy shouting into the pieces of hardware in their hands before they beat on the doors once more, trying to bypass what even _Superman _would have trouble punching through in one blow.

'_Damn it…' _Robin cursed as he glared at the bulkhead, which everyone on the team apart from himself and Cyborg were attempting to blow out again, yielding little to no results. "We need to go, this place is coming down on top of us any second now!"

"But friend Ventus-"

"Made his own choice!" Robin said cutting Starfire off as he grabbed her wrist and began pulling her away. "Cyborg, get the others! We're going now!"

"No! Stop! Let me go!" Raven cried as Cyborg tucked her under his arm, carrying both herself and Beast Boy away.

"We can still save him! We just need one minute!" Beast Boy cried as he flailed under Cyobrg's arm, apparently forgetting he could've transformed into something large enough to get out.

"I'm sorry y'all, but all we can do is have faith in his choice," Cyborg said as he and the others ran out, the cave collapsing behind them and beginning to seal the entrance.

* * *

><p>At the same time back in the cavern after the bulkhead had come down, Vent watched it bulge inward a couple times before, once satisfied that there wasn't going to be any interference, he turned around and headed down the cavern. Maneuvering down the cavern in spiraling motions like a leaf in the wind, the rubble collapsing around him and off by inches, he eventually made his way back to the chamber where he'd left Terra behind. The girl's body was now glowing bright gold, and with the light being given off by the lava below beginning to die out as the hot magma cooled, served as the only light source as the cavern began to darken. Buffeting away another piece of debris from himself with a flex of his mental muscles, he walked towards the blond as she continued to exercise her will against the earth around her. However, it appeared to be a losing battle, the girl falling to her knees and tears streaming down her face, quiet sobs leaving her lips as the world around her began to glow dark.<p>

"I don't want to die… *_sniff_* but this is probably what I deserve," Terra sobbed as tears continued to stream down her face. A moment later however, a hand landed on her shoulder, her eyes going wide when she thought that Slade had somehow crawled back up to exact revenge, only to go to the size of dinner plates as she realized- "Ve-Ven!? What're you doing down here?!"

"I won't leave you alone. Not again," he said giving her a reassuring smile.

"But Ven, what if-"

Whatever she was about to say, died on her lips the moment Vent tenderly pressed his lips against hers, the blond's breath taken away and eyes wide as he cupped her cheek. Tears now streaming down her face anew, the blond wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck as she put all of her emotion into what could very well be their final meeting. Even if this was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, even if he didn't truly return her feelings, for a fleeting few moments, everything was just... okay. Her betrayal of the Titan's trust had never happened, the subjugation of an entire city never occurred at her hand, the world around them wasn't about to go up in flames, and Slade... was still gone. Then, as quickly as it began, it ended, their lips separating, though to the blond she would never forget.

"Terr... I've done a lot of bad things in my life. When my time comes... I'll have a lot to answer for. Leaving a friend to die alone, abandoning her a second time, will not be one of them," he said as tears began to fall from his eyes, and it was only then that he let all of the sadness, anguish, and regret he'd been holding deep in his heart come to the surface. "If its my fate to live, then I'm taking you with me. If not... you won't be going alone."

"Ven… I'm scared," Terra sniffed as she pressed her face into his chest and cried, the tears she'd been holding back for so long finally breaking free. "I know I did a lot of things wrong… but I don't want to die…"

"Then don't die," Vent said as he soothingly rubbed her back as he rested his chin atop her head. "Let's get out of this together, then go home. Alright?"

"_*Sniff* _Alright…" Terra said with a soft smile on her face. Her hands held in his as he pulled her up, their eyes closed as their breathing became leveled, despite the rumbling of the earth around them. The next moment their eyes snapped open silver and gold, their hair billowing as a corona of energy surged forth from their bodies, the cavern soon filled with a brilliant energy. Savage winds whipping the magma like a disobedient beast of burden, while an unwavering hand soothed the raging demon, as cracks spread across the ceiling and portions of the chamber caved in the rumbling of the world around them began to slow. As the glow from their bodies intensified, the two let out a defiant roar, that their lives would not end that day. As the rumbling of the cavern was on the verge of subsiding, the last of the chamber collapsing…

**THE END**

* * *

><p><strong>Disclaimers:<br>Getting these out of the way in order of relevance. I do not own Teen Titans. I do not own Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. I do not own Code Geass. I do not own Naruto. I do not own The Terminator. Pretty sure that covers all of them. Now onto the stuff that DOES matter. And the AN down below is important, so at least skim over it.  
><strong>

**Author's Notes:  
>And that's the end of this story. Just so you know, I <strong>_**do **_**plan to continue (the sequel covering Seasons 3 through 4), but I'm ending things here at the end of Season 2. It just seemed like the best stopping point for me, and it'll make the beginning of the sequel all the more dynamic with the cliffhanger it ended on, and foreshadowing to future events. That way, there's a sense of continuity due to the unanswered questions. Another reason I'm doing this is because now that this story is ended, I'll be able to focus more on my other projects that've just been sitting there and collecting metaphorical dust. The sequel won't be up for a while, and I'm not sure when I'll start again, but I just think I should give this story a break. Mind you the story does NOT end here, but I'm just going to let things sit for the time being. A different reason I'm dividing this story every couple of Seasons is because if I didn't, the story would drag on, at least in my perspective.  
><strong>

**As for how I changed things up at the end, I noticed Slade inflicted martial law to Jump for no specified reason, so I came up with one by mixing elements of Episode 23 "Betrayal" and Episode 30 "Crashed". I interpreted there being no people in Jump as Slade forcing everyone out so he wouldn't have to divert his attention to multiple fronts during his occupation, and I've left hints as to Slade's objective in the chapter for those of you that can catch it. As for why I nixed out Ternion (Cinderblock+Overload+Plasmus), there was never any explanation given as to how they became separated again, and in the scene you can CLEARLY tell that Cinderblock is being **_**broken **_**up as Plasmus oozes over him, and seeing as how things didn't really add up, I just decided to keep them separate for sake of plot. Also, while together Ternion has the power of all 3, he becomes a single target that all FIVE of the Teen Titans (in canon) can wail on, so strategically it would've been smarter to leave them divided so they could cover more ground, or force the Titans to divide their forces.**

**The OCs Grey-Wing and Jadework are created by **Greywing44 **for use in this story, and are parallels of characters in her **_**own **_**Teen Titans story, albeit with some alterations made to accommodate the different "climate" my story contains. Said story is called **The Tale of Gecko**, and was inspired by mine (mainly the +1 in "Go!"), and if you look closely enough, you'll eventually see that story's parallel to _this _story's Ventus.  
><strong>

**On note of why Ventus had an axe to grind with the Titans,**** I'd like to see any of **_**you **_**try maintaining your composure while your hometown is being overrun by robots and you're severely "understaffed". As for him picking apart Robin's plan of playing dead for three days, that shouldn't be confused as "bashing", because Ventus made some legitimate points to refute Robin's plan. On note of him being angry at Raven for goofing a spell and making him the magical equivalent to Sabrina's talking pet cat, that was explained in-story, in case you missed the clues.**

**Suffice it to say, the sequel will be a bit different from this story, which was basically "establishing" the Teen Titans "Elementverse". There will still be comedy and cameos to be sure, though more of the Episodes will be abridged than in this story, but I might incorporate some of the Comic issues into it as well if any catch my eye. It goes without saying that things will be different than the Season 3 canon and onwards. While I might not publish** **  
><strong>

**. . . **

**. . . **

**. . . **

**Ah, now I remember. Originally, I was going to do a bit of self-advertising at the end of this chapter for a work that I've been cooking up for the past year and so, a "Trailer" if you will. However, that would add content not directly related to the finale, so I figured I'd put it in a chapter separate from this one, so don't remove this story from your Alert column just yet.**

**P.S.  
>On note of Ventus' Voice, the search has been narrowed down a bit. <strong>Infinite Freedom **suggested Kirito (voiced by Bryce Papenbrook) from **Sword Art Online**, however that voice doesn't quite **_**fit**_**. An anonymous Reviewer suggested Josh Keaton, but since he/she did not specify which role that character was voicing over for, that's obviously a "No". **JediMasterChris1** suggested Nolan North during his work as Nathan Drake in the **Uncharted** series, and Deadpool on **Hulk vs Wolverine** as well as the Deadpool video game; the one from **Hulk vs Wolverine** is close, but a little too old for Ventus' voice, while the one from the Deadpool game is just a little too "edgy" for how I imagine him to sound. Lastly, **skinnydude911** suggested Makarov from **Fairy Tail** (voiced by R. Bruce Elliot) as "Old Vent", Alucard from **Hellsing** (voiced by Crispin Freeman) for "Serious Vent", and Gohan from **Dragon Ball Z's** Buu Saga (voiced by Kyle Herbert) for "Casual Vent", as in the "default" voice he uses most of the time.**

**After careful consideration, I think the search for Ventus' voice has finally come to an end. Both his casual and serious voices are (in my mind) voiced by Kyle Herbert in his role as Teen Gohan (from the Buu Saga), because whether it's the casual tone he took when teaching Videl to fly, or the serious tone he took when swapping banter with Super Buu, that's pretty close to how I imagine Ventus sounding. For "Reaver", as a child when he trained under Slade he sounded like Ciel from **Black Butler** (voiced by Briana Palencia), because back then he had yet to hit puberty; as a Titan when he's serious or particularly bloodthirsty, he sounds like Alucard out of **Hellsing** (voiced by Crispin Freeman). "Old Vent" is the voice of Makarov Dreyar from **Fairy Tail**, voiced by R. Bruce Elliot, because it's a jovial tone of a man who never really grew up, but when the chips are down he knows how to step up and put his foot **_**down**_**. **

**Anyhow, that's pretty much how I imagine my OC sounding in his varying mindsets. And before I leave, I'd like to thank each and every one of you that took the time to Review my story. Sorry I've been so inconsistent with updates, especially on my other stories, but life happens, and I'm trying to make it work for me.  
><strong>


	34. Extra: Next-Work Trailer

**For those of you still Following, here's that Trailer I promised last-chapter. Though a scene of similar nature will appear in the story its advertising, it will not be done word-for-word out of HERE. Contextually, it's the same as the trailer for **Batman: Arkham Origins**, where Batman faces Slade in the shipping yard before Deadshot tries dropping a shipping container on them; a scene like THAT did not happen in-game, but was indicative towards some of the cast. **

**WARNING: The contents of this trailer might be considered M-Rated for violence.**

**Anyhow, without further ado, I present...**

* * *

><p>School.<p>

It feels like forever ago I was walking down these very same halls with Summer Vacation right around the corner. You look out the hall windows and you'd see the streets below, people coming and going, cars, busses, and taxis doing the same. The smell of car fumes choked the Manhattan air just beyond the glass, but for anyone that lived here for a few years, and you really stopped to notice. On the inside, all you really had to worry about was getting your assignments in on time and not being late for class. Maybe you need to be wary for some muscle-headed jock trying to shove you into your own or someone else's locker, but that was a pre-occupational hazard in the battlefield known as high school.

But that was then, and this is now, and Manhattan is _literally _Hell on Earth. Well... not by the religiously-centric definition if you want to split hairs, but when the Fourth of July sticks it to you sideways, it REALLY sticks it to you sideways.

No longer were the streets filled with cars or pedestrians milling about. Instead the sidewalks were lined with the flaming wrecks of automobiles, ripe bodies strewn across the ground in various states of decay. No longer was the air choked with car fumes. Instead you would smell an entire city burning, the fetid smell of rotting corpses filling your nostrils as your every pore is assaulted with the scent of death in every form it chose to take. And now... Now the school was an entirely _different _kind of battlefield. As the world outside burned, those who were able to keep their composure long enough to last more than five minutes, went to wherever they could think to salvage supplies. I myself was one of them.

As I walked down the hall, sneakers padding across linoleum tiles now stained with blood and who-knows-what, a door suddenly opens behind me, and I turn around. The face before me now, I only vaguely recognize. A couple weeks ago he was some prick who never studied and always tried to cheat off my tests. Now... he's just another desperate human being trying to live to see another day. There wasn't anyone coming to help us. No soldiers, no gods, no heroes.

No one, especially no heroes, though my expectations of them were always quite low. It dated back to my childhood, that's a story for another day though.

The moment he pulls a firearm out of the crotch of his pants I do the same, although in my case it's from a holster at my side because I'm not a fucking dumbass. He then begins shouting words at me. Threats, most likely. He wants the contents of my backpack, and for good reason. Rationed properly, it'll feed a person for a day, maybe two, and this guy wanted it for himself. He repeatedly jabs the end of his pistol in my direction, telling me he's going to shoot, but I see the look in his eyes. Eyes filled with fear, his hands shaking and the iron sights of his pistol bouncing all over the place, his words nothing but wind as they reach my ears. Oh, and he was holding his firearm sideways. In the movies, the spent casings flying upward would be used to draw attention to an actor's face, but in real life it's a good way of causing a jam.

I should be scared, having a pistol waved in my direction like that, in the hands of someone so stupid I was pretty sure he was going to blow his own crotch straight out his ass. But I'm not. I've lost so much in the past few days, seen so many die as my world burned around me, that I just don't care anymore. Leveling my own pistol at him in turn, there's no hesitation on my part as I pull the trigger. I feel the primer igniting the propellant inside the bullet case, the gun bucking back against my arm as a slug of lead is sent spiraling through the rifling, and leaves the muzzle in a flash soon after. Time almost seems to slow down as the little dot of gray sails through the air, the _***krak* **_of the bullet filling my ears and making the chaos outside nothing more than a low din. The projectile impacts my former peer right between the eyes, a crimson spray issuing out the back of his head in a gory parody of a halo as he topples backwards, legs buckling underneath him before he lands on the floor, staining the linoleum a bright red anew.

It was at that moment that I learned killing my enemies felt good.

Real good.

* * *

><p><strong>Here's the Trailer, hope you enjoyed it. I left things pretty vague <strong>_**intentionally**_**, but hinted that this story would be a bit... darker, than my previous works. And no, this is not advertising a sequel to **Teen Titans: One of Four Elements**, it's the start of a separate storyline entirely, and one in a new set of stories that I've spent the last year or so cooking up, sound boarding details back-and-forth over **_**hundreds **_**of PMs. Anyhow, until THAT story (as in the one self-advertised) comes out, because that's the one I intend to put out next, I hope you'll take the time to peruse some of my other works. Until then... See you next time!**


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